labor camp, extortion
FILE PHOTO: A view of Yanggang Province from the Chinese side of the China-North Korea border. (Daily NK)

Some members of North Korea’s Ministry of State Security have recently focused a great deal of energy on taking money from “brokers” who facilitate remittances from abroad.

A source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK last Thursday that officials with the ministry have recently grown rather frantic in busting remittance brokers in the China-North Korea border area.

“Having lost their sources of income due to the closure of the border, security agents are cracking down on remittance brokers to make money,” he claimed. 

According to the source, the Ministry of State Security busted a broker operating in Hyesan late last month.

The broker — a man in his 40 identified by a fake last name, Pak — was nabbed by an agent while on his way to Komsan-ri to deliver money to the family of a defector.

Pak was carrying RMB 20,000 (around USD 2,957) in cash at the time of the bust. The broker asked the security agent to let him go “this one time.” Pretending not to want the money at first, the agent then proposed they “split the sum 50-50.”

Ultimately, Pak gave the agent half of the cash — RMB 10,000 — and was set free.

The agent told the broker that he should find him when he moves money because “you won’t get caught if the Ministry of State Security is watching your back,” the source said. 

This episode provides a glimpse of how security agents are using their official duties to fill their pockets.

The source said that a similar incident happened in Hyesan as well. A broker in his 40s — again identified by the fake family name of Kim — was busted while on his way to deliver money to the family of a defector in Masan-dong.

The source said the agent released Kim after taking 40% of the cash he was carrying. Before leaving, the agent suggested that Kim find him “at any time” if problems arise in the future.

Even at the country’s feared Ministry of State Security, agents in investigative departments might receive tons of bribes, but ordinary agents lead lives little better than those of the public at large, the source said.

“To put food on the table, some agents are engaging in pathetic behavior like seeking out the head of the neighborhood watch unit or better-off families in their jurisdictions [to squeeze them for money],” he said. 

“It seems security agents who used to live high on the perch while watching the backs of smugglers are having a tough time getting by as the borders remain closed,” the source continued, adding, “Security agents are the frontline in terms of protecting the leadership, so would they be shaking down remittance brokers if things weren’t that bad?”

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