[imText1]The North Korean authorities are intensifying efforts to crack down on corruption and embezzlement prevalent among Party cadres.
Lim Sang Il (pseudonym, 43), a native of Pyongyang, said, “The state excommunicated and dismissed both the Chief Secretary of the Party in Daedonggang district and the head of the foreign currency-making activity organization. They were found to have embezzled money earned from the cocoon business for the past ten years.” Mr. Lim, who is currently in Dangdong, China visiting relatives, said, “It is rumored that that they extorted over 10 million dollars.”
Mr. Lim said, “The factory manager of the Sangwon Cement Complex located near Pyongyang took his life when he heard the news that he was suspected of corruption and that the state inspection group against anti-socialist trends was one its way down to see him for inspection.”
“This manager was notorious for corruption. For years, he had extorted money from the factory and used it for his own use,” Mr. Lim said. “It was widely gossiped that this man killed himself because he knew that his would receive capital punishment considering the severity of his crime.”
A source from Sinuiju in North Pyongan said in a phone conversation with DailyNK on the 28th of November, “The Chief Secretary of the local Party in Woonjeon, North Pyongan Province, was expulsed from the Party and fired from his job after he was found to have extorted money allocated for public construction work.”
“There is construction going on in Woonjeon, tearing down old houses and building new ones,” the source said, “However, the residents’ were never asked for permission to commence with the demolition and reconstruction in the first place and were forced into temporary housing until the project’s completion. This, of course, angered many people.”
“All of a sudden, those without money ended up homeless, whereas those with money were able to purchase two to three houses at an affordable price,” said the source.
“Their discontentment and anger rising, the local people, led by the elders, sent a written protest directly to the central Party and filed a complaint,” the source said. “In response, the inspection group came down to Woonjeun and dismissed the Chief Secretary of the local Party and the head Prosecutor.”
“The inspection group discovered that these men were hiding a significant amount of money in their houses,” the source said. “It was so much that the inspectors couldn’t count the money and had to weigh stacks of bills on the scales.”
“Conspiring with the construction manager, the Chief Secretary had accumulated money by overpricing construction materials and selling newly constructed houses,” said the source. “The head Prosecutor accepted huge bribes on the condition that he should turn a blind eye to the contesting reports and complaints pouring in from the locals.”
In regards to the recent incident where some machinery from the Suncheon Vinylon Complex was smuggled to China, the State has dismissed many high-ranking officials implicated in the smuggling, including the Chief Secretary of South Pyongan Province, the Chief Secretary of the local Party in Suncheon, the city’s public prosecutor, and the director of the Safety Agency and municipal foreign-currency organization.
