North Korea’s central government recently sent an inspection team to an oil distribution center affiliated with the Nampo Trade Administration Bureau, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Tuesday that as North Korea has recently greatly expanded its imports of Russian oil, “an inspection group of the Central Committee visited an oil distribution center affiliated with Nampo’s trade management bureau in the middle of this month because of abnormal oil management.”
The source said the Central Committee sent an inspection team to launch a full-scale investigation because officials at the oil distribution center are so mired in corruption that it was often a topic of discussion among Nampo residents.
The inspection team is focusing its investigation on allegations that officials at the oil distribution center – while distributing the expensive, hard-earned fuel in accordance with the state’s economic goals – were taking bribes to distribute the oil as if they were selling it out of their own pockets.
The Central Committee took serious issue with the officials who flaunted their power and authority while treating state property as their own and habitually taking bribes from agencies and enterprises striving to produce goods, and condemned them for disrupting national economic development.
In particular, some officials at oil distribution centers not only took bribes but also falsified accounts in collaboration with the workplaces to send them more oil. The officials would keep some of the extra oil to sell to oil traders, making money on the side. The Central Committee’s inspection team is intent to root out this corruption, the source said.
Investigators leave no stone unturned
The team has blamed oil distribution officials for the failure of years of various crackdowns on private oil traders who resold stolen oil, and expressed its intention to use the latest opportunity to eliminate the problem.
“The first thing the inspection dealt with was an explosion that occurred in mid-February in the neighborhood of an oil dealer in Nampo,” the source said. “The explosion set five houses on fire, and after the authorities learned that the accident began with the ignition of gasoline, the Central Committee’s inspection team conducted an intensive investigation into the source of the oil.”
During the investigation, the inspection team collected testimony from residents of the neighborhood in question. They said that the merchant sold oil during the day but went to the oil distribution center at night to receive it.
“Based on this, the inspection team is thoroughly investigating the corruption of oil distribution center officials,” the source said. “They are fully investigating even small irregularities committed by the staff.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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