As part of efforts to strengthen party control over the military, North Korea recently ordered for “party life records” of all cadres in the North Korea military to be stored for 30 years. Previously, the records had only been stored for 10 years.
According to a Daily NK source in the North Korean military on Thursday, the organization department of the General Political Bureau issued an order to this effect to the entire North Korean military early this month.
“Party life records” document the organizational lives and ideological tendencies of party members and leading commanders in the North Korean military. The “party life guidance section” of each military branch’s organizational department manages the documents.
The source said that the military authorities explained that the recent order is part of efforts to encourage military officials to adhere to principles related to party life and guidance. These principles were presented during special lectures for party life guidance officials affiliated with party committee organizational departments from July 2 to July 6.
The lectures called for establishing “discipline of absolute obedience to the Central Committee’s unitary leadership” with a view to strengthen discipline among the military’s leading cadres, which has grown slack due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The source said that the organizational department of the General Political Bureau made it clear that it issued the order to the military to more firmly establish the Central Committee’s unitary military leadership system and prepare the military as “Comrade Kim Jong Un’s military, the party’s military,” paying absolute obedience to the Central Committee’s orders.
Basically, this is all part of efforts to build the infrastructure to maintain the so-called “unitary leadership system.” Such efforts are aimed at making a database of data on the general ideological tendencies of everyone from the lowest unit to the high-ranking cadres to keep an eye on ideological changes and closely guard against people falling by the wayside ideologically.
The source said the decision to lengthen the storage term of party life records to 30 years shows just how deeply the party plans to look into the ideological tendencies of military personnel.
“It provides a glimpse of efforts aimed exerting more control over top commanders and strengthening party control across the entire Korean People’s Army,” he said.
Military authorities also issued an order to bolster the function and role of the military’s “party life guidance sections.” They also called on the political committees and heads of the political departments of units at all levels to take the lead in establishing unified party life guidance principles and a system of regulations, reviews and reports.
The source said work on this began from last November, with the military planning to operate a system of party life and ideological control in accordance with changed regulations starting this August.
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