North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently sent Kim Jae Ryong, the head of the Organization and Guidance Department (OGD), to Yanggang Province, Daily NK has learned. Kim Jae Ryong is in charge of ensuring Workers’ Party control over North Korean public security agencies.
Kim’s dispatch to Yanggang Province on May 3 could be interpreted as an attempt to achieve two things. First, Kim will be able to inspect progress of “COVID-19 prevention efforts” in the Sino-North Korean border region. Secondly, he will be able to personally collect reports on how well local authorities are cracking down on “anti-socialist behavior,” including defections and the use of Chinese cell phones.
A source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Monday that Kim called an emergency meeting of the provincial party committee on the day of his arrival. Kim reportedly ordered officials from various agencies to participate, including party and government organizations, judiciary organs, the prosecutor’s office, the Ministry of State Security, and other public safety agencies.
Kim announced at the meeting that Kim Jong Un had given him the authority to take complete control over efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Yanggang Province.
Kim emphasized the importance of dispelling people’s complaints and restoring trust in the party and law enforcement agencies. He also made it clear that he intended to “uncover and eliminate” anyone within the prosecutor’s office or security agencies who participated in or abetted illegal activities.
North Korean authorities handed down several COVID-19-related lockdown orders in the province last year, but smuggling and defections have continued to occur in the region nonetheless. This situation appears to have caught the leadership’s attention and led to the conclusion that local authorities in the province are not operating as they should.
Kim’s dispatch to Yanggang Province could also be viewed as an attempt to establish the party’s exclusive authority and reinforce discipline and order in the Sino-North Korean border region. Kim’s speech laid bare his intention to personally oversee a mop-up of “anti-socialist” activity and exercise rigid control over internal discipline within various local institutions.
Tensions are reportedly high as the news of Kim’s arrival spreads throughout Yanggang Province.
“As news of Kim Jae Ryong’s presence spreads around the region, officials and ordinary residents alike are becoming extremely nervous,” the source said. “People who neglected to perform inminban [people’s unit] neighborhood patrol duties in the past are being mobilized without so much as a complaint.
“Officials who came with Kim Jae Ryong are inspecting the local prosecutor’s office, the Ministry of State Security, and the Ministry of Social Security offices in Hyesan, Pochon County, Taehongdan County, and Sinpa County,” the source continued, adding, “Nobody is sure when Kim will go back [to Pyongyang], but people are expecting a backlash to hit at any moment – some officials will be fired, and some will even go to prison.”
*Translated by S & J
