Officials at North Korea’s Ministry of Food Procurement and Administration gathered recently for a study session focusing on corruption between ministry officials and collective farm managers.<\/p>\n
A Pyongyang source told Daily NK on Wednesday that “high-ranking officials at section chief level and above attended a study session Dec. 28 in the Cabinet building’s main auditorium. The session tackled corruption in the grain procurement process.”<\/p>\n
The session detailed irregularities in grain procurement and resulting statistical manipulation, issuing stern warnings to officials accepting bribes. Several cases were highlighted where farms submitted false reports after failing to meet state quotas, with the blame falling on “unscrupulous and irresponsible” ministry officials assigned to these farms.<\/p>\n
The source revealed that ministry officials had collaborated with local managers to manipulate statistics and omit requisitioned grain, creating discrepancies between reported procurement totals and actual grain deliveries to state granaries.<\/p>\n
One specific case discussed involved a farm in Anak county, South Hwanghae province. “Officials forcibly collected grain from farm workers and secretly kept portions for themselves. The scheme unraveled when workers reported several farm officials had cellars storing tons of grain,” the source said.<\/p>\n
“This level of corruption couldn’t have occurred without Central Committee officials turning a blind eye. The Cabinet suggested similar activities likely exist at all farms, even if undiscovered, and warned officials to watch for such breakdowns in state discipline,” they added.<\/p>\n
The lecturer emphasized that officials handling food procurement were risking both their party membership and lives, stressing that ministry officials deployed to rural farms must resist local bribes. They offered an ultimatum: officials who voluntarily confess to accepting bribes would be forgiven, but future offenders would lose both their positions and party membership.<\/p>\n
The source reported that the Cabinet plans to review detected corruption cases in grain procurement, reexamine statistics to identify root causes, and hold corrupt officials accountable.<\/p>\n