A two-day meeting was held in Hoiryeong, a border city in remote North Hamgkyung Province, from November 5th to 7th to address the implementation of Kim Jong Eun’s policy decrees at the municipal level, the first time that such a meeting is known to have been held.
The meeting was not only attended by key cadres from the city, but also by Party secretaries from enterprises, local district Party secretaries, heads of local district offices and area heads from the Korean Democratic Women’s Union.
It reportedly centered on evaluation of the implementation status of orders handed down by Kim Jong Eun on November 18th, 2010 (’11.18 policy’ noted below), and extended debate about future plans for their implementation.
According to an inside source in the province, “Participants were surprised because all the issues discussed were related to ’11.18 policy’.”
Kim Jong Eun officially emerged as the successor at the 3rd Party Delegates’ Conference on September 28th, 2010. On November 18th he issued instructions strengthening internal controls in a number of areas, which have since formed the cornerstone of a period of great unrest in the Party, military and border area society.
The instructions allegedly covered: ▲ eliminating ‘anti-socialist’ behavior; ▲ struggling against the enemy (meaning blocking the influx of foreign films and music); ▲ halting the smuggling or distribution of drugs; ▲ eliminating thievery and wastage of state resources; ▲ eradicating human trafficking and illegal border crossing; and ▲ stopping bribery.
During the original implementation of the policy this year, more than ten cadres from Hoiryeong Municipal Party and People’s Committee are known to have been sacked and expelled from the Party with loss of privileges. Coming hard on the heels of the recent purge of North Pyongan Province, this degree of punishment shows us how hard the winds of change are blowing through the Chosun Workers’ Party.
