Following the news that the Former Cabinet Minister Park Bong Joo was being demoted to the position of manager at the Suncheon “Vinylon” Complex, a mass-scale purge took place due to incidents of corruption.
The Suncheon Complex, which is located in South Pyongan, broke ground in 1984, but shortly after, construction came to a halt and did not resume until 1986. The factory was completed three years later, but did not run properly. After the food shortage in the 90s, the factory came to a complete halt.
According to a source, with the cease in factory operations in the late 1990s, related parties of the factory and influential persons colluded and began smuggling factory equipment to China. Park Gi Dok (75), called by the pseudonym “Dolduryeong (or ‘stone boss,’ a term used to disparagingly refer to leaders with real power in the North),” conspired with the enterprise chief secretaries and Suncheon city Party members in order to sell factory equipment and technology to China
The insider North Korean source said, “Former Cabinet Minister Park Bong Joo, after being demoted to manager of the complex in May of this year, toured the factory facilities and immediately reported to Kim Jong Il when the equipment and machines were not to be found. Kim Jong Il opened an investigation in secret through the Defense Security Command of the People’s Army.”
The Defense Security Command is originally in charge of observation and control over the People’s Army, but is sometimes charged with handling serious incidents in society, even if they are not related to the People’s Army.
Furthermore, he revealed, “There were a number of related parties selling equipment and machinery, a large number of which were high-level officials, including the Party Chief Secretary of South Pyongan, the Party Chief Secretary of Suncheon, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Chief of Safety Agency, and “vinylon” foreign currency earners. The manager of Suncheon Complex resigned even before the incident and was suddenly arrested after the incident.”
The insider identified the main figure in the scandal as Park Gi Dok. “Park approached the Party Chief Secretaries of the South Pyongan and Suncheon and played a decisive role in selling Suncheon Complex materials and equipment,” he said. “Former Minister Park, who reported this activity, was interrogated as a witness.”
Park Gi Dok, while in his 30s, received a 15-year sentence in a long term reeducation camp and was released with a decree of amnesty after serving 8 years of the sentence. After his release, he processed stone and began a foreign-currency selling business abroad. He also brought a brick-printing machine from China with which he started a business in North Korea.
Boasting immense profits and financial prowess, Park forged close ties with the City Secretary and the Chief Secretaries of the Party. He took charge of all financial dealings related to the municipal and faction parties and, conspiring with them, sold all the machinery and equipment from the Suncheon Complex.
As a result of the scandal, referred to as the “Suncheon Incident,” Park Gi Dok was held fully responsible and was sentenced to public execution.
The source said, “Along with the Party Chief Secretary of South Pyongan, the City Secretary as well as the Prosecutor and the Chief of Safety Agency were dismissed from office, but the ultimate responsibility fell on Park. Last August, when he was detained, he reused to name related parties and attempted to injure himself by bashing his head against the wall.”
Park Gi Dok was publicly executed at a stadium located in Seuksu, Suncheon on August 18th. At his execution, Suncheon citizens, the Party leaders, the Party Chief Secretary of the Province, the Complex Secretary and the Guidance Secretary were assembled. Each party was made to display a banner indicating the name of their organization.
Another source relayed, “At the time of the execution, 90 shots were fired in contrast to the usual practice of 9 shots for one person. 30 of the charges were fired from an automatic rifle.”
The Good Friends Organization reported on the 22nd that “Park was executed in front of 150,000 spectators at Suncheon Stadium following the preliminary hearing of the Suncheon stone-cutting factory head, who was being interrogated by the National Defense Commission and Defense Security Command.”
