A North Korean who was entrusted with managing the auxiliary farm of a local county party school in South Pyongan Province faces criminal punishment for corruption, Daily NK has learned.
The man allegedly provided some of the land to a farmer in return for sharing the harvested rice in autumn, a Daily NK reporting partner in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Mar. 22, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
The local county party school has its own farmland which it uses to feed its students and the man had been entrusted with managing the farm since last April.
A former army officer, the man served as the village farm’s cell secretary and got the job because he pleased the cadres of the county party committee. He is rumored to be good looking and articulate, and was thus able to ingratiate himself with the cadres.
The county party committee’s trust in the man was so high that it even recommended him to become a student at the provincial party school this year.
CORRUPTION UNVEILED
However, problems arose during the process of handing over the farm to a new manager in late February, the reporting partner said.
During the handover, the new manager discovered that there were discrepancies in the farm’s acreage. He found that some of the best land had been given to an ordinary farmer. The new manager reported this issue to the county party committee.
“The county party committee takes food-related issues very seriously and immediately called in the previous farm manager to figure out what happened,” the reporting partner said. “The committee ultimately found that he had given the farm’s land to a farmer and shared the rice that the land produced.”
The committee immediately informed the provincial party committee of the man’s corrupt behavior, and the provincial party committee ordered that the man be immediately expelled from the provincial party school and punished under the law. The man and the farmer he colluded with were jailed by the county police in mid-March.
The provincial party committee ordered that officials ascertain and report all improper land management at auxiliary farms, pointing out that plenty of similar corrupt practices could be taking place at the auxiliary farms of all government agencies and enterprises in the province, the reporting partner said.
In fact, corrupt behavior is quite rampant at auxiliary support farms affiliated with government agencies and enterprises. The provincial party committee’s order to investigate corrupt practices has led to anxiety among many auxilary farm managers, the reporting partner added.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
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