North Korea’s leadership recently ordered officials at the country’s national police agency to use polite language about the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in documents and other materials reported to leader Kim Jong Un.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a Daily NK source in North Pyongan Province said Thursday that the provincial branch of the Ministry of Social Security conveyed an order from the ministry’s national headquarters at a meeting of prominent provincial, city, and county police officials in early January.
Emphasizing that the WPK’s Central Committee is the “supreme general staff of the revolution,” the order criticized some branches of the Ministry of Social Security for failing to use sufficiently polite language about the Central Committee when writing reports.
The order called on all branches of the Ministry of Social Security to use polite expressions referring to the Central Committee in documents reported to Kim Jong Un and to intensify command and control efforts so that officials write more politely. The directive also called for the branches to be held accountable, for the officials responsible to be punished severely politically and criminally if problems arise, and for measures to be thoroughly worked out to implement the order as soon as it is received.
The order also specified the language to be used in reports to Kim and the language to be used when police officials receive documents signed by Kim.
For example, instead of writing, “We agreed with the relevant department of the Central Committee,” the order instructed police officials to write, “Department X of the Central Committee reviewed and approved the proposal.” When forwarding documents signed by Kim to relevant departments, officers were instructed to write that they were “reporting” on the content of the documents instead of “delivering” them.
The order also called for efforts at the organizational level to ensure that officials use the correct phrases regarding the Central Committee as required. It also instructed officials at the management level to take responsibility for reviewing and returning relevant documents when officials fail to write them as required, and demanded that managers take measures to eradicate improper expressions and intensively review reports.
“The order stressed that all parts of the Ministry of Social Security must strictly follow party directives and that it is important to maintain absolute loyalty to the Workers’ Party,” the source said.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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