North Korean authorities have launched an emergency investigation after a state security agent was killed in North Hamgyong province’s border region.
According to a source who spoke to Daily NK recently, an agent from the provincial Ministry of State Security was found stabbed to death in a border city earlier this month.
The incident occurred during an ongoing corruption probe. In late January, the provincial security ministry had dispatched agents to border cities including Onsong, Hoeryong, and Musan to investigate alleged corruption among local security officials.
The situation unfolded when one of these dispatched agents suddenly went missing. After the provincial ministry lost contact with him, they reached out to local agents in his assigned area, but no one could account for his whereabouts.
Two days later, his body was discovered on a nearby hillside, bearing multiple stab wounds. Upon notification, the Ministry of State Security headquarters in Pyongyang immediately sent investigators to conduct a thorough probe.
These Pyongyang investigators are reportedly working in complete isolation, refusing all outside contact.
“Officials are deeply unsettled by the corruption investigation,” the source said. “There’s growing speculation that this incident is linked to corruption within the city’s security ministry branch.”
Given the regime’s harsh stance on official corruption, locals suggest this case could extend beyond a simple homicide to reveal deeper corruption issues.
“The Pyongyang investigators are taking extreme precautions – they won’t even accept cigarettes, which is a customary greeting here. They’re only accepting air and water,” the source said. “They have to be vigilant, considering this killing occurred during an anti-corruption purge.”
In response, local security branches have intensified surveillance and searches using detection equipment, further increasing tension among border residents.
“People are unnecessarily fearful after this incident,” the source noted. “Even close friends are now careful about joking with each other, and the usual marketplace chatter has gone quiet.”
The succession of inspections and purges, now complicated by this killing, has created an atmosphere of mounting fear in border regions, leading to increasingly restricted daily life amid growing public anxiety.
“People say these days that the frequent inspections sting worse than the winter cold,” the source added. “They’re saying winter couldn’t get any harsher than this.”
