{"id":50159,"date":"2021-12-20T15:04:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T06:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=50159"},"modified":"2021-12-20T15:11:38","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T06:11:38","slug":"north-korea-cracks-down-people-making-illicit-profits-undervaluing-money-vouchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-cracks-down-people-making-illicit-profits-undervaluing-money-vouchers\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea cracks down on people making illicit profits by undervaluing money vouchers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Korea is cracking down hard on people who refuse to accept money vouchers &#8211; <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">donpyo<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; or who make illicit profits by undervaluing the vouchers. These people could face a maximum punishment of life in prison given they are being treated as political criminals who violated state measures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to multiple North Korean sources on Friday, North Korean authorities arrested and detained several money changers in major cities such as Pyongyang, Sinuiju and Chongjin between Dec. 9 and 11, accusing them of hindering the distribution of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">donpyo<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The accused money changers reportedly sold KPW 5,000 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">donpyo <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for less than their face value, and then used the vouchers to buy various imported goods, gasoline, and diesel fuel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The clients of the money changers were also arrested, accused of \u201caccepting without criticism\u201d transactions that valued official state-issued currency less than \u201cthe US imperialists\u2019 dollar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily NK <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-organizes-inspection-teams-to-ensure-smooth-distribution-of-money-vouchers\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">previously reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that the authorities organized a \u201cunified command to normalize the distribution of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">donpyo<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d to crack down on illegal behavior involving <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">donpyo <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and improve the public\u2019s image of the vouchers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The command\u2019s teams are reportedly going around markets to ensure the smooth distribution of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">donpyo<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is peculiar, however, is that when the teams discover illegalities, the culprits are arrested and detained not by the Ministry of Social Security \u2014 analogous to South Korea\u2019s police \u2014 but by the country\u2019s prosecutors.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_49582\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49582\" style=\"width: 741px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-49582\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/\ubd81\ud55c-\ub3c8\ud45c2021\ub144-\ubc1c\ud589.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"741\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/\ubd81\ud55c-\ub3c8\ud45c2021\ub144-\ubc1c\ud589.jpg 741w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/\ubd81\ud55c-\ub3c8\ud45c2021\ub144-\ubc1c\ud589-300x141.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/\ubd81\ud55c-\ub3c8\ud45c2021\ub144-\ubc1c\ud589-696x327.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 741px) 100vw, 741px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-49582\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A picture of the foreign currency vouchers currently in circulation in North Korea. \/ Image: Daily NK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In North Korea, prosecutors generally remain uninvolved in a crime\u2019s investigation process, with the Ministry of Social Security usually exercising investigative authority. However, Daily NK understands that prosecutors are directly involving themselves in cases involving <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">donpyo <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from the investigation stage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When a money changer in a market in Pyongyang\u2019s Sosong District was arrested last month for selling KPW 5,000 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">donpyo <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for just KPW 2,500, he was arrested by Ministry of Social Security agents. More recently, however, prosecutors\u2019 offices have been getting directly involved from the investigation stage in similar cases.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the sources said this is because most of the money changers who have been arrested so far were found to have colluded with Ministry of Social Security personnel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In fact, money changers often bribe Ministry of Social Security agents to reduce their sentences even if they are caught engaged in wrongdoing. North Korean authorities are apparently mobilizing the prosecutors rather than the Ministry of Social Security to crack down hard on the money changers, knowing full well the corruption taking place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given that the Central Public Prosecutors Office is getting directly involved in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">donpyo<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">-related cases, money changers will find it difficult to reduce their sentences through bribes and connections.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Koreans believe the money changers detained in the recent crackdown will receive life sentences or at least 15 years of forced labor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The prosecutors\u2019 offices have already conducted \u201cpublic struggles,\u201d public trials of a sort that gathered together about 100 people, including cadres from local people\u2019s committees and other money changers. Because those managing these \u201cstruggle\u201d sessions have said the accused committed crimes \u201cdeserving of life sentences,\u201d the suspects likely face similar sentences during their actual trials.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One source told Daily NK that a sentence of 15 years or more is lighter than those handed out to \u201cpolitical criminals\u201d; however, such long sentences still mean the accused are receiving punishment similar to those handed out to political criminals. He further claimed that the North Korean state has \u201cfully drawn its sword\u201d to \u201cnormalize the distribution of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">donpyo<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u201d<\/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\/%eb%b6%81%ed%95%9c-%eb%8f%88%ed%91%9c-%ec%95%a1%eb%a9%b4%ea%b0%80%eb%b3%b4%eb%8b%a4-%ec%8b%b8%ea%b2%8c-%ea%b1%b0%eb%9e%98%ed%95%9c-%ed%99%98%ec%a0%84%ec%83%81%eb%93%a4-%ea%b0%95%eb%a0%a5-%eb%8b%a8\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Korea is cracking down hard on people who refuse to accept money vouchers &#8211; donpyo &#8211; or who make illicit profits by undervaluing the vouchers. These people could face a maximum punishment of life in prison given they are being treated as political criminals who violated state measures. According to multiple North Korean sources [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":49582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,645],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-economy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>North Korea cracks down on people making illicit profits by undervaluing money vouchers - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\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\/north-korea-cracks-down-people-making-illicit-profits-undervaluing-money-vouchers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"North Korea cracks down on people making illicit profits by undervaluing money vouchers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"North Korea is cracking down hard on people who refuse to accept money vouchers &#8211; donpyo &#8211; or who make illicit profits by undervaluing the vouchers. These people could face a maximum punishment of life in prison given they are being treated as political criminals who violated state measures. According to multiple North Korean sources [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-cracks-down-people-making-illicit-profits-undervaluing-money-vouchers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-20T06:04:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-20T06:11:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/\ubd81\ud55c-\ub3c8\ud45c2021\ub144-\ubc1c\ud589.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"741\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"348\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Seulkee Jang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Seulkee Jang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-cracks-down-people-making-illicit-profits-undervaluing-money-vouchers\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-cracks-down-people-making-illicit-profits-undervaluing-money-vouchers\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Seulkee Jang\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/194958ce83d17408851c1d378fa83857\"},\"headline\":\"North Korea cracks down on people making illicit profits by undervaluing money vouchers\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-20T06:04:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-20T06:11:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-cracks-down-people-making-illicit-profits-undervaluing-money-vouchers\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":617,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-cracks-down-people-making-illicit-profits-undervaluing-money-vouchers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/\ubd81\ud55c-\ub3c8\ud45c2021\ub144-\ubc1c\ud589.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-cracks-down-people-making-illicit-profits-undervaluing-money-vouchers\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-cracks-down-people-making-illicit-profits-undervaluing-money-vouchers\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-cracks-down-people-making-illicit-profits-undervaluing-money-vouchers\\\/\",\"name\":\"North Korea cracks down on people making illicit profits by undervaluing money vouchers - 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