Two Hyesan Mine technicians were arrested on drug charges but later released with the help of mine officials, Daily NK has learned.
“Local police arrested two technicians at Hyesan Mine on drug charges earlier this month,” a source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “When this happened, the mine officials appealed to the police, citing a crisis in the mine’s production, and after a go-for-broke effort, they managed to free the two on the day before the Day of the Shining Star [the birthday of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Feb. 16].”
At the mine, the two technicians in the drug case were rumored to be quite good at their jobs. Since no one at the mine had their skills, their arrest sent officials at the mine into a panic.
“The technicians were very familiar with all the mine’s equipment and handled all its maintenance, so when they were arrested, this inevitably led to a vacuum because the mine had no immediate backup,” the source said. “Even if the mine started training new technicians immediately, it would take a while, so the officials had no choice.”
Weary from their work, the two technicians had long complained of severe pain in their backs, knees, and elsewhere. After receiving little treatment at the hospital, they repeatedly turned to narcotics for pain relief, only to be arrested by the police.
Since the arrests were expected to disrupt production, the chief secretary of the mine’s party committee, the mine manager, and even the chief technician wrote several letters of apology to the police, offering to “take measures to ensure that such a thing does not happen again.”
However, since the case was so serious that a few letters of apology would not be enough, the mine went all out to deal with the situation, mobilizing officials from its back office to borrow USD 4,000 from local donjuLiterally "masters of money," donju refers to people who hav... More and hand it over to the police.
“The chief secretary of the mine’s party committee played an important role in resolving the case by covering up the direct bribe to the police,” the source said. “The mine officials worked hard to save the two technicians, even bowing to the police, and when they finally freed them, the officials received a great deal of praise.”
News of the incident spread quickly among the mine workers, their families and Hyesan residents. People who heard about it applauded the rescue as highly significant, saying that it was “the first time that mine officials worked so hard for their workers.”
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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