Tag: corruption
Central party inspection teams descend on Sinuiju factories, rattling local officials
North Korea has dispatched central party inspection teams to major factories in Sinuiju, the capital of North Pyongan province, in a sweeping audit of...
North Korea threatens to send failing students to coal mines after...
North Korea's ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) launched a sweeping inspection of senior middle schools in 2026 after a new elective subject system...
Political bloodlines drive North Korea’s Social Safety Forces recruitment
North Korea's annual military conscription season is now underway, and the Social Safety Forces — the country's internal security force, roughly equivalent to South...
North Korea brokers extort defector families with surveillance threats
Remittance brokers operating near North Korea's border are shaking down the families of North Korean defectors, extorting money from people who recently received funds...
Middle East oil shock doubles North Korea freight costs, squeezes traders
Rising oil prices driven by instability in the Middle East are pushing up fuel costs inside North Korea, with transport fees charged by private...
North Korea arrests factory workers for diverting goods to markets
Three workers at a state-run local industry factory in North Hamgyong province were publicly struggled against and arrested last month after diverting factory output...
North Korea’s state security apparatus undergoes generational overhaul after party congress
North Korea's state security bureau in North Hamgyong province has ordered the replacement of roughly 40% of its agents at municipal and county offices...
North Korea’s poorest youth are choosing brutal labor brigades over life...
Young North Koreans facing poverty and an unrelenting burden of workplace levies are volunteering for the country's much-dreaded labor brigades in growing numbers, choosing...
North Korea’s inns become havens for drug deals as crackdowns intensify
Inns across North Korea are being converted into hubs for drug dealing and use as intensifying state crackdowns push narcotics activity further underground, a...
North Korea cracks down on corrupt prosecutors shielding elite students
North Korea's Supreme Prosecutor's Office issued an emergency order Jan. 19 activating a long-dormant legal provision that allows the replacement of corrupt prosecutors at...
