North Korean authorities are conducting intensive inspections after discovering signs that grain processing facilities were colluding with military “rear services” (logistics) departments to pilfer large amounts of military rice.
According to multiple Daily NK sources in North and South Pyongan provinces on Friday, the authorities detected what was going on as they compared rice processing ledgers with actual stores during surprise inspections of provincial grain processing bodies in January and February of this year.
The inspections found that many grain processing facilities were pilfering military rice stores by falsely filling out the ledgers.
The rear services departments knew what was going on, but made no issue of it. On the contrary, they entered into “illegal contracts” with the rice processing centers, actively collaborating with their activities.
The corruption did not stop there. The rear services departments siphoned off a great amount of military rice by reporting fake “depletion ratios” during the rice polishing process. For example, if they brought dry rice, they would report that there was a lot of wet rice. After polishing, they would record a smaller amount of rice, pilfering the difference.
The two organizations followed ostensibly formal procedures so that everything appeared legal. This kind of corruption was possible because both sides got a cut of the pilfered rice.
The inspections conclusively revealed that the two organizations were engaged in widespread “joint operations” to pilfer military rice stores as well, one of the sources told Daily NK. The inspection team had informed personnel inspecting rice processing facilities nationwide that it had discovered the illegal collusion between the processing facilities and the rear services departments.
The source said the side processing the rice and the side taking the rice cooperated in the corruption, something that was possible because the party “cannot watch over each and every thing.” That is what allowed the corruption to become routine, he claimed.
The rear services departments were even shamelessly storing their pilfered rice in rice processing centers’ empty warehouses.
Rice processing organizations faked the weights of trucks laden with military rice, too. Similar methods have long been employed elsewhere in North and South Pyongan provinces.
Individuals involved in corruption of this sort face serious punishment. This is because North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s image was tarnished when his “grave decision” to release military rice stores in June 2021 revealed rice shortages.
The authorities are reportedly even more upset that cadres at rice processing bodies and military rear services departments were living with such abundance.
However, some people also believe the cadres will receive a slap on the wrist because “every cadre” must have been in on the scheme.
One of the sources said that the authorities have long let cadres steal or “legally” pilfer rice as long as nobody made a fuss about it, so people handling rice must have considered such embezzlement natural.
She said some people have little hope in the inspections since nearly all provincial, city, or county cadres are in the debt of the grain processing bodies. She added that some people believe that only “one or two powerless individuals” without connections will get sacked.
The Central Committee’s Economic Department and the Agricultural Commission — formerly the Ministry of Agriculture — have been engaged in sweeping inspections of grain processing facilities all across North Korea since Feb. 26.
The Economic Department has maintained an information sharing system with inspection teams nationwide to inform them of each and every instance of corruption involving rice processing, calling on teams to “uncover in their entirety the inner workings of grain management.”
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