Security officials working in regions along the China-North Korea border scrambled to put together money to pay their superiors as 2022 came to an end, a source in the country recently told Daily NK.
Remittance brokers who facilitate remittances from North Korean defectors and other overseas North Koreans to their families at home are reportedly suffering from excessive demands for cash from the officials.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Friday that agents from the Hoeryong branch of the Ministry of State Security visited the homes of remittance brokers and well-off families at the end of the year with demands for cash.
“Essentially, what they’re doing is putting together money to pay their superiors [by Lunar New Year],” he said.
According to the source, people customarily visit their elders or agency heads to deliver greetings on national holidays like Lunar New Year. This custom is adhered to with particular vigor among the country’s security officials.
To keep their jobs or to seek promotion, security officials mark the New Year by visiting the homes of their superiors with simple holiday gifts, or visit the homes of high-ranking cadres with authority over human resources to give them high-priced liquor, cigarettes or cash.
Basically, the officials hand over bribes under the guise of wishing their superiors good wishes for the new year.
The practice is especially pronounced among security officials responsible for border regions. Competition for jobs in the border region is fierce, with many officials seeking work in potentially lucrative smuggling regions.
Security agents who, before the pandemic, earned a fixed monthly income watching the backs of smugglers in the border region have seen their earnings drop over the last three years due to the continued closure of the country’s borders.
However, the source said the officials widely expect a return to their guaranteed high earnings if smuggling operations increase amid expectations that trade will restart in earnest in 2023.
Given this atmosphere, security officials are doing all they can to put together the money they need to visit their superiors on the Lunar New Year.
In fact, an agent responsible for the workers’ district in Hoeryong recently went around to the homes of smugglers to shake them down, demanding that they cough up RMB 2,000 (around USD 290) by Dec. 30 because he “has no money” and “needs to visit people on Lunar New Year.”
Another security official went to the home of a resident of Hoeryong’s Nammun-dong District to beg for RMB 3,000 (around USD 434), explaining that he “needed to make Lunar New Year visits because [he] wanted to transfer to the counter-intelligence department next year.”
Three security officials have reportedly asked the same Nammun-dong District resident for similar help.
“These days, security officials are seeking out remittance brokers to put together the cash to give to their superiors on the Lunar New Year,” said the source.
“Security officials who used to bang on about loyalty to the Workers’ Party and the revolutionary spirit are doing anything that can to beg for money for their own interests, including protecting their jobs,” he continued.
“The officials have long asked for money even during ordinary times, ostensibly to guard the backs of wealthy families and remittance brokers in their jurisdictions, but with officials continuing to demand money ahead of the New Year, it’s a headache for local people,” he added.
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