Tag: corruption
Height, songbun, and accordion skills: What it takes to land a...
With North Korea expected to expand its overseas workforce, more young women are taking lessons in singing and musical instruments with the hope of...
North Korea’s secret police crack down on officials’ wives consulting fortune...
The Ministry of State Security has ordered provincial bureaus to monitor nighttime movements and superstitious rituals as families fear personnel changes, with some paying...
Fur and famine: N. Korea’s elite flout luxury bans as workers...
North Korea’s elite women are flaunting luxury fur coats worth millions of won—enough to buy a provincial home or feed a family for years—while...
N. Hamgyong province clamps down on private sale of rice
North Korea has launched a heavy-handed crackdown on private rice sales in North Hamgyong province.
“After the Central Committee ordered a halt to the private...
North Korean soldier beaten to death for failing to collect fuel
A North Korean soldier with the Eighth General Bureau, which is thought to be responsible for construction projects, was fatally beaten by his superiors...
North Korean logistics officers profiteer from grain collection as rice prices...
As officers from the logistics departments of government agencies begin collecting grain, they are profiteering by tampering with the ratio of rice received, as...
Why North Korean troops fear “assignments” more than combat duty
A North Korean young man performing his military service in the riot police was beaten unconscious by a group of his superiors, prompting an...
Homeroom teachers compete over student bribes as class ceremonies become status...
North Korean high school students in their final year are increasingly putting on a variety of "graduation parties," leaving parents who must now prepare...
Farm labor shortages force North Korea to trap discharged soldiers in...
A North Korean couple from different parts of the country—the man from the interior and the woman from the border—may have to call off...
Soldiers and civilians profit from “time of opportunity” as North Korea...
With the authorities collecting military rice supplies in agricultural communities throughout North Korea, the age-old practice of pilfering supplies on the ground is repeating...
