North Korea’s primary internal security and counterintelligence agency, known domestically as the bowibu. Established in its current form in 1973, the agency reports directly to the Supreme Leader and operates outside the normal judicial system. It is responsible for political surveillance, suppression of dissent, management of political prison camps, monitoring of foreign media consumption, counter-defection operations, and investigation of economic crimes. In early 2026, the agency was renamed the State Information Bureau, reportedly to project a more institutionalized image while expanding its intelligence mandate.
Tag: ministry of state security
Counterfeit Russian rubles flood Rason market as North Korea-Russia trade expands
Counterfeit Russian rubles have been circulating in Rason, North Korea's special economic zone on the China-Russia border, prompting authorities to dispatch a special inspection...
N. Korea arrests official for quoting Kim Il Sung in Kim...
A provincial party official in North Hamgyong province was seized by National Intelligence Agency (NIS) agents the moment he stepped down from the lectern...
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 cracks down on rumors about soldiers captured in Ukraine
North Korean authorities have ordered state security agents to identify and suppress rumors spreading along the Chinese border about soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces,...
N. Korea freezes investigations ahead of party congress
North Korea's Ministry of State Security suspended all investigations and custodial proceedings on Feb. 8, ordering provincial bureaus onto emergency footing ahead of the...
Drug traffickers caught at N. Korean checkpoint with hundreds of grams...
Two North Korean drug traffickers were arrested at a checkpoint in North Hamgyong province in recent days after attempting to smuggle methamphetamine from Hamhung...
Over 50 detained in North Korea for watching Cho Yong-pil’s KBS...
North Korean state security agencies have detained dozens of people for watching videos of South Korean singer Cho Yong-pil's wildly popular "This Moment Forever"...
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...
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...
N. Korea claims near-total elimination of underground churches and prayer groups
The North Korean authorities have recently begun patting themselves on the back for bringing religion under control, claiming that "organized underground services and secret...
