{"id":45993,"date":"2020-08-11T14:02:54","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T05:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=45993"},"modified":"2020-08-11T14:15:02","modified_gmt":"2020-08-11T05:15:02","slug":"ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/","title":{"rendered":"Ringleaders of gold smuggling ring harshly punished"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The revelation that the ringleaders behind a gold smuggling ring were part of a foreign currency-earning company operated by the Ministry of State Security has led to severe punishment for all those involved, Daily NK has learned.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a Daily NK source in the country, the individuals who supervised the gold smuggling scheme have been executed and long prison sentences have handed out to their accomplices.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt turns out that the smuggling was arranged by the heads of the general affairs department and financial affairs department at a trading company affiliated with Unit 10121 of the MSS\u2019s Logistics Bureau,\u201d a source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Aug. 6. \u201c[The two officials] are believed to have been executed in secret after the investigation revealed they had a long history of smuggling gold.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the source, both officials had been stealing gold from a gold mine in Hoechang County, South Pyongan Province, and illegally selling it to China. At one point, they had teamed up with the member of the <em>donju <\/em>(North Korea&#8217;s wealthy entrepreneurial class) <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">who owned the gold mine to arrange transfer of the gold to a smuggler. The entire scheme came to light when the smuggler was caught by security agents on the border as he was trying to send them into China.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily NK previously <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/gold-smuggler-arrested-on-sino-north-korean-border\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that a professional smuggler attempting to move 58 kilograms of gold across the Yalu River near Hyesan had been arrested along with two border guards paid to look out for trouble.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>SERIOUS PUNISHMENT<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the source, the gold smuggling scheme is being treated very seriously in light of the fact that North Korean authorities are heavily cracking down on illegal activity near the border to prevent the spread of COVID-19. News of the scheme was also sent all the way up to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the source said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Ministry of State Security was able to uncover the identity of the ringleaders after a thorough interrogation of the smuggler. The investigation found out, however, that those responsible for the scheme were connected with a trading company affiliated with the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ministry, placing ministry officials in the awkward position of having to punish members of their own agency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_42409\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42409\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-42409\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/KakaoTalk_20170616_100805983-1-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"Hyesan killed\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/KakaoTalk_20170616_100805983-1-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/KakaoTalk_20170616_100805983-1-768x461.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/KakaoTalk_20170616_100805983-1-1024x614.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/KakaoTalk_20170616_100805983-1-696x418.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/KakaoTalk_20170616_100805983-1-1068x641.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/KakaoTalk_20170616_100805983-1-700x420.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/KakaoTalk_20170616_100805983-1.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-42409\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of Hyesan, Yanggang Province, from the Chinese side of the border. \/ Image: Daily NK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recognizing that there was a possibility that the ministry may attempt to cover up misconduct by those within its own ranks, the central government put the Ministry of Social Security &#8211; North Korea&#8217;s national police force &#8211; in charge of handling the case and punishing those responsible. The ringleaders were ultimately executed, while the <em>donju<\/em> who owned the mine was handed a prison sentence of 15 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it appeared likely during the initial stages of the investigation that the smuggler would be executed as well, he was given a prison sentence in consideration of the fact that his testimony helped to bring all the ringleaders to justice. Then, however, the authorities learned from owner of the mine that the smuggler had been engaged in gold smuggling with Ministry of State Security officials for seven years. The man was soon re-sentenced to life in prison and sent to a prison facility in Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe border patrol captain caught with the smuggler on the banks of the Yalu River has been sent to a [military] labor camp and will soon be discharged from the military,\u201c the source told Daily NK. \u201cIt looked as though the security officer who turned them all in might receive a lighter punishment, but he was ultimately given a dishonorable discharge when it was discovered he had been involved in smuggling before.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>AN ATMOSPHERE OF FEAR<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The arrests and executions have reportedly led to an atmosphere of fear among members of the border patrol. Border guards are scared that being caught smuggling rare metals &#8211; classified as government-owned assets &#8211; could ruin their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBorder guards and base commanders have been ordered to strengthen their political and ideological education with a view to instill greater vigilance and a sense of duty in protecting the national border,\u201d the source said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Korea\u2019s Border Patrol Command has reportedly instructed border guards in the same unit as those involved in the gold smuggling scheme to \u201creflect on their actions\u201d until Aug. 15. Specifically, this means that each member of the unit must submit a 20-page document that includes a self-criticism describing acts they have committed while blinded by greed as well as a self-reflection that details smuggling and other illegal acts committed by their comrades.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAt present, all of this only applies to the unit in question, but there is talk that such measures may be expanded to all border patrol units,\u201d the source said. \u201cEveryone is cowering in fear at the threat of a second or third wave [of punishment]. Accordingly, other units are applying pressure on that unit, urging them to do a proper job of writing their [self-criticisms and self-reflections] so other units aren&#8217;t punished.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The source further speculated that &#8220;all of these self-criticisms, [ideological] lessons, inspections and [the atmosphere] of people turning on each other will last around three more months, but then everyone will return to smuggling again when things calm down.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/%ED%98%9C%EC%82%B0%EC%84%9C-%EB%B2%8C%EC%96%B4%EC%A7%84-%EA%B8%88-%EB%B0%80%EC%88%98-%EC%82%AC%EA%B1%B4%EC%9D%98-%EA%B2%B0%EB%A7%90%EB%B3%B4%EC%9C%84%EC%84%B1-%EC%9D%BC%EA%BE%BC%EB%93%A4\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The revelation that the ringleaders behind a gold smuggling ring were part of a foreign currency-earning company operated by the Ministry of State Security has led to severe punishment for all those involved, Daily NK has learned. According to a Daily NK source in the country, the individuals who supervised the gold smuggling scheme have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":43326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[295],"class_list":["post-45993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-crime"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ringleaders of gold smuggling ring harshly punished - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The ringleaders of a gold smuggling ring were recently executed after it was found out that they were part of the Ministry of State Security.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ringleaders of gold smuggling ring harshly punished\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ringleaders of a gold smuggling ring were recently executed after it was found out that they were part of the Ministry of State Security.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-11T05:02:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-11T05:15:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/KakaoTalk_20180820_183415377.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ha Yuna\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ha Yuna\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ha Yuna\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/116bf99c9521ec70efc4b38d538f42ff\"},\"headline\":\"Ringleaders of gold smuggling ring harshly punished\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-11T05:02:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-11T05:15:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":908,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/KakaoTalk_20180820_183415377.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"crime\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ringleaders of gold smuggling ring harshly punished - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/KakaoTalk_20180820_183415377.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-11T05:02:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-11T05:15:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"The ringleaders of a gold smuggling ring were recently executed after it was found out that they were part of the Ministry of State Security.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/KakaoTalk_20180820_183415377.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/KakaoTalk_20180820_183415377.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"A view of Hyesan, in North Korea's Yanggang Province. (Daily NK)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ringleaders of gold smuggling ring harshly punished\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"name\":\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Daily NK English\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Daily NK English\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"description\":\"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.\",\"email\":\"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net\",\"telephone\":\"82-2-732-6998\",\"legalName\":\"DailyNK\",\"foundingDate\":\"2004-12-01\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"1\",\"maxValue\":\"10\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/116bf99c9521ec70efc4b38d538f42ff\",\"name\":\"Ha Yuna\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/9f4cf0f24b376077a2fcdab2e85c3584-150x150.webp\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/9f4cf0f24b376077a2fcdab2e85c3584-150x150.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/9f4cf0f24b376077a2fcdab2e85c3584-150x150.webp\",\"caption\":\"Ha Yuna\"},\"description\":\"Ha Yuna is Daily NK's editor-in-chief. Please direct any questions about her articles to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/author\\\/ha-yoon-ah\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ringleaders of gold smuggling ring harshly punished - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","description":"The ringleaders of a gold smuggling ring were recently executed after it was found out that they were part of the Ministry of State Security.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ringleaders of gold smuggling ring harshly punished","og_description":"The ringleaders of a gold smuggling ring were recently executed after it was found out that they were part of the Ministry of State Security.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/","og_site_name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","article_published_time":"2020-08-11T05:02:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-11T05:15:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/KakaoTalk_20180820_183415377.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ha Yuna","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ha Yuna","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/"},"author":{"name":"Ha Yuna","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/116bf99c9521ec70efc4b38d538f42ff"},"headline":"Ringleaders of gold smuggling ring harshly punished","datePublished":"2020-08-11T05:02:54+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-11T05:15:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/"},"wordCount":908,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/KakaoTalk_20180820_183415377.jpg","keywords":["crime"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/","name":"Ringleaders of gold smuggling ring harshly punished - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/KakaoTalk_20180820_183415377.jpg","datePublished":"2020-08-11T05:02:54+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-11T05:15:02+00:00","description":"The ringleaders of a gold smuggling ring were recently executed after it was found out that they were part of the Ministry of State Security.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/KakaoTalk_20180820_183415377.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/KakaoTalk_20180820_183415377.jpg","width":1200,"height":720,"caption":"A view of Hyesan, in North Korea's Yanggang Province. (Daily NK)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ringleaders-gold-smuggling-ring-harshly-punished\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ringleaders of gold smuggling ring harshly punished"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization","name":"Daily NK English","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","width":272,"height":90,"caption":"Daily NK English"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"description":"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.","email":"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net","telephone":"82-2-732-6998","legalName":"DailyNK","foundingDate":"2004-12-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"1","maxValue":"10"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/116bf99c9521ec70efc4b38d538f42ff","name":"Ha Yuna","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/9f4cf0f24b376077a2fcdab2e85c3584-150x150.webp","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/9f4cf0f24b376077a2fcdab2e85c3584-150x150.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/9f4cf0f24b376077a2fcdab2e85c3584-150x150.webp","caption":"Ha Yuna"},"description":"Ha Yuna is Daily NK's editor-in-chief. Please direct any questions about her articles to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/author\/ha-yoon-ah\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45993"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45997,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45993\/revisions\/45997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}