Managers of Russia-based North Korean companies that earn foreign currency are secretly running “contract teams” to line their own pockets, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in Russia told Daily NK on July 26 that the North Korean government recently “ordered foreign currency-earning companies to meet their assigned quotas for the second half of the year before Sept. 9, the 75th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK, instead of the end of the year. With the deadline coming up soon, managers are trying to secure whatever contracts they can to make money for themselves.”
The managers of some companies are using their authority as company president, party secretary, or security guidance officer to select competent and technically skilled workers to work for them on the side. These workers become part of small contract teams that receive assignments unrelated to the implementation of broader foreign currency-earning plans.
However, those who have not been selected for the teams are jealous because team members can occasionally make money for themselves while completing the assignments, the source said.
“People have a sense which employees have been selected for the teams. Unable to make extra money, those left out of the teams are just waiting to get back home so they can reveal what’s going on to the authorities.”
Translated by Annie Eun Jung Kim. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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