North Korea’s Central Public Prosecutors Office ordered the country’s prosecutors to organize gatherings to discuss episodes of the series “Memoirs of a Prosecutor,” which recently aired on Korean Central Television (KCTV).
A source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Tuesday that the government’s goal in ordering the gatherings was to ensure they take “an oath that all prosecutors will live and struggle like the protagonist of the series, learning from his clear conviction and spirit.”
“Memoirs of a Prosecutor,” which focuses on the life of a North Korean prosecutor and his battle against hidden anti-party elements and traitors, is a four-part series — episode 1 ran on Jan. 1, episode 2 on Jan. 15, episode 3 on Jan. 22 and the finale on Jan. 29, according to the KCTV schedule posted on the South Korean Ministry of Unification’s North Korean Informational Portal.
The Central Public Prosecutors Office ordered prosecutorial agencies nationwide to hold discussion sessions after each episode of the show, which ended in late January.
The source said the order called on prosecutors not only to watch the show each week, but also for prosecutor offices to prepare sessions for prosecutors to publicly declare their feelings. During these sessions, prosecutors were instructed to “etch deep on their hearts the attitude, beliefs and undaunted spirit of the protagonist, who protects and reveres the Supreme Leader and Workers’ Party, along with the dialogues and major scenes [of the series].”
In particular, the Central Public Prosecutors Office called on all prosecutors to use the sessions as opportunities to analyze whether they are politically and ideologically ready to follow the Supreme Leader and Workers’ Party “10 million miles,” and to hold fierce discussions on whether they are working with a clear ideology and spirit like the protagonist in the show.
Moreover, the Central Public Prosecutors Office called on prosecutors to harshly consider whether they have ever given a pass to somebody who criticizes the state or follows a different path, or whether they have submitted or followed a superior who behaves in a way contrary to party ideology.
The central prosecutors office also called on prosecutors who have taken bribes in return for closing their eyes to criminal activity to use the sessions to confess, beg forgiveness and start anew.
However, the source told Daily NK that “prosecutors are always busy with no time to watch the show, so they are asking their wives to watch it and tell them what happens.”
“Meanwhile, internal discipline in prosecutors’ offices has been growing stricter recently, so prosecutors are telling their family members to be very careful about what they say or do outside [their homes],” he said.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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