According to sources inside the country, officers from North Korea’s Ministry of State Security have been going to greater lengths, including false accusations, to arrest citizens for personal gain.
“The provincial MSS has been falsely accusing regular citizens of being spies. This particular approach is becoming more common, and officers have been using it as a means to get promoted,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on April 9.
The source spoke of a case he personally witnessed in the border region this year involving two North Korean citizens who were falsely charged and imprisoned in a correctional labor camp (kyohwaso).
Additionally, a separate source in North Hamgyong Province spoke of an incident wherein MSS officers spied on a resident who was earning a living by smuggling, following him to a shop where alcohol was being served. They recorded personal complaints he made on while under the influence as a pretext to send him to a disciplinary labor center (rodong dallyeondae).
“The MSS told him, ‘We heard that you said there is no hope here in North Korea and that you’re planning to go to China.’ However, since he wasn’t caught in the act, he wasn’t sent to a correctional labor camp (kyohwaso),” the source said.
“With MSS officers are finding it harder to improve their work metrics through regular means, they are resorting to baiting and accusing innocent citizens in order to move up the ranks.”
Cases of the MSS taking everyday gripes and complaints to turn normal people into criminals for their own personal gain are reportedly occurring on a frequent basis.
“There have recently been several cases of people simply expressing their feelings about it being ‘hard to get by’. Then they get thrown into a labor reform center (rodong kyoyangso), or all of a sudden disappear without a trace,” a source in Ryanggang Province said.
The MSS are North Korea’s political police and their primary function is to maintain the Kim regime’s grip on power by keeping a close watch on the sentiments of ordinary citizens. The MSS has far-reaching authority, with the power to arrest anyone they suspect of subversion and can punish them without due process. Presently, the MSS is thought to currently run five political prison camps to deal with individuals it accuses of serious political crimes.
