{"id":56936,"date":"2023-12-20T13:31:41","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T04:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=56936"},"modified":"2026-04-05T14:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:35:22","slug":"hoeryong-security-officials-launch-crackdown-on-chinese-phone-users-for-year-end-bribes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hoeryong-security-officials-launch-crackdown-on-chinese-phone-users-for-year-end-bribes\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoeryong security officials launch crackdown on Chinese phone users for year-end bribes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials with the Hoeryong branch of the Ministry of State Security have launched a sweeping crackdown on users of Chinese mobile phones to collect money for year-end bribes for their superiors, Daily NK has learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Friday that the Hoeryong branch of the Ministry of State Security \u201crecently declared a major cleanup campaign to root out the use of Chinese mobile phones.\u201d He added that local residents \u201cknow only too well that this is a shakedown for the officials to fulfill their year-end tasks.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the end of each year, North Korean security agents regularly conduct crackdowns to gather the cash to pay their superiors, the source added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In particular, agents are working hard to ramp up fear to extract bigger bribes, even using the term \u201cmajor cleanup campaign\u201d to describe their crackdown on Chinese-made mobile phones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the top of their target list are remittance \u201cbrokers\u201d who make money using Chinese mobile phones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cRemittance brokers are prime bait for the officials because they\u2019re the only ones with money,\u201d the source said. \u201cThe security officials are seeking out remittance brokers to openly ask for money, which puts them in a tight spot because the officials demand too much cash.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, two security agents recently asked a remittance broker operating in Hoeryong for RMB 20,000 (around USD 2,800).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m starving and exhausted, and now I\u2019ve got to take harassment by security agents just to make a living moving a bit of money,\u201d the broker complained, according to the source. \u201cI have no idea how I will survive.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Security officials are even seeking out retired remittance brokers to ask for money if their names are on the list of Chinese mobile phone users, the source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Security officials use threats to get what they want<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, some officials threaten their victims with exile if they refuse to accept their demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the source, security officials in Hoeryong visited one person last week to demand RMB 5,000 (around USD 705), even though the individual, who had his phone confiscated, has been unable to make money for six months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI have no money because I\u2019ve been unable to make remittances,\u201d he told the officials, who responded: \u201cDo you want to be exiled into the mountains so you can come to your senses?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The source claimed that &#8220;security officials demand thousands of yuan without even blinking an eye. It\u2019s highway robbery. Yet we have no choice but to put the money together somehow because we have no idea what detriment we\u2019ll suffer if we don\u2019t give them what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK\u2019s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/faq\/\">here<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/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\/20231215-3\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/20231127-5\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Officials with the Hoeryong branch of the Ministry of State Security have launched a sweeping crackdown on users of Chinese mobile phones to collect money for year-end bribes for their superiors, Daily NK has learned. Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Friday that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":56938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1360,67],"tags":[273,948,1656,222],"class_list":["post-56936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-society","category-news","tag-corruption","tag-mobile-phones","tag-dprk","tag-border"],"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>Hoeryong security officials launch crackdown on Chinese phone users for year-end bribes - 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\/hoeryong-security-officials-launch-crackdown-on-chinese-phone-users-for-year-end-bribes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hoeryong security officials launch crackdown on Chinese phone users for year-end bribes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Officials with the Hoeryong branch of the Ministry of State Security have launched a sweeping crackdown on users of Chinese mobile phones to collect money for year-end bribes for their superiors, Daily NK has learned. Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Friday that [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hoeryong-security-officials-launch-crackdown-on-chinese-phone-users-for-year-end-bribes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-20T04:31:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-05T05:35:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/17686212956_dec2d03aca_b.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"684\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lee Chae Eun\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lee Chae Eun\" \/>\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\\\/hoeryong-security-officials-launch-crackdown-on-chinese-phone-users-for-year-end-bribes\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hoeryong-security-officials-launch-crackdown-on-chinese-phone-users-for-year-end-bribes\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lee Chae Eun\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6c9f40b0a89c4a5354607f43756dbbe0\"},\"headline\":\"Hoeryong security officials launch crackdown on Chinese phone users for year-end bribes\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-20T04:31:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-05T05:35:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hoeryong-security-officials-launch-crackdown-on-chinese-phone-users-for-year-end-bribes\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":529,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hoeryong-security-officials-launch-crackdown-on-chinese-phone-users-for-year-end-bribes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/17686212956_dec2d03aca_b.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"corruption\",\"mobile phones\",\"dprk\",\"border\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Society\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hoeryong-security-officials-launch-crackdown-on-chinese-phone-users-for-year-end-bribes\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hoeryong-security-officials-launch-crackdown-on-chinese-phone-users-for-year-end-bribes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hoeryong security officials launch crackdown on Chinese phone users for year-end bribes - 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