{"id":66274,"date":"2026-02-05T07:16:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T22:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=66274"},"modified":"2026-02-14T07:48:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T22:48:48","slug":"north-korea-defense-ministry-finds-massive-embezzlement-in-elite-pyongyang-guard-unit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-defense-ministry-finds-massive-embezzlement-in-elite-pyongyang-guard-unit\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea defense ministry finds massive embezzlement in elite Pyongyang guard unit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Commanders of North Korea&#8217;s elite 91 Metropolitan Defense Corps were caught embezzling funds collected from soldiers and their families for modernizing and renovating base facilities, according to a recent defense ministry inspection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The Ministry of Defense&#8217;s inspection bureau found that commanders of the unit responsible for defending Pyongyang had misappropriated a large amount of money collected to improve soldiers&#8217; living conditions and spent it on themselves, a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK recently. The inspection took place in mid-January during a review of logistics and morale at military units stationed near the capital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The 91 Metropolitan Defense Corps had organized fundraising committees in each of its constituent battalions and companies with the goal of modernizing the Kim Il Sung-Kim Jong Il-ism Study Room and renovating soldiers&#8217; barracks to provide better heating.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">But inspectors found that more than half of the funds collected from soldiers and their family members over the past five years had vanished without a paper trail and that less than 10% of the amount had been used for its original purpose, according to the source. The funds were ostensibly collected to renovate the study room and barracks.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold\"><strong>Lavish meals while soldiers shivered<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">While the defense ministry has repeatedly warned commanders not to treat these funds as a &#8220;personal piggy bank,&#8221; commanders in the field have generally disregarded those orders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">During the bureau&#8217;s review, inspectors turned up ledgers showing that a substantial portion of the collected funds had been spent on entertaining and rewarding the commanders\u2014expenditures that had little, if anything, to do with renovating base facilities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">At some units in the 91 Metropolitan Defense Corps, money earmarked for fixing the barracks heating issue was instead spent on entertaining commanders at fancy restaurants and buying imported goods for personal use. The ledgers also listed expenditures under vague names such as &#8220;incentives&#8221; and &#8220;meal expenses,&#8221; in violation of the accounting principle of recording exactly how funds are used.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Meanwhile, chilly air continued to blow through cracks in the barracks windows, and scuffed desks at the study room have yet to be replaced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The revelation about the misappropriated funding has provoked anger and dismay among the enlisted men.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">&#8220;One soldier complained that the commanders were treating themselves to fancy meals with his parents&#8217; donations while he was shivering in an unheated barracks,&#8221; the source said. &#8220;Another was incensed that the commanders were stuffing their mouths while the soldiers were risking their lives to defend the Marshal (Kim Jong Un). Some of the criticism has gotten quite vulgar.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">&#8220;This probe has basically confirmed that the 91 Metropolitan Defense Corps, which has enjoyed all kinds of funding given its role in the defense of Pyongyang, is rotten to the core,&#8221; the source added. &#8220;The Central Committee views the incident with grave concern.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">But so far, there are no reports of anybody being punished over the affair.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/20260205-2\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<!-- Daily NK \u2014 A Note to Readers \u2014 End of Article Pattern -->\n<div style=\"background:#1a1a1a;border-top:3px solid #cc0000;padding:0;margin-top:32px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;\">\n  <div style=\"padding:20px 24px 24px;\">\n\n    <!-- Header row -->\n    <div style=\"display:flex;align-items:center;gap:12px;margin-bottom:14px;\">\n      <span style=\"background:#cc0000;color:#fff;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:9px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.15em;text-transform:uppercase;padding:3px 8px;flex-shrink:0;\">A Note to Readers<\/span>\n      <div style=\"flex:1;height:1px;background:#333;\"><\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <!-- Intro line -->\n    <p style=\"font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:15px;color:#fff;font-weight:normal;line-height:1.4;margin:0 0 12px;\">Reporting from inside North Korea<\/p>\n\n    <!-- Body -->\n    <p style=\"font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;color:#bbb;line-height:1.75;margin:0 0 16px;\">\n      Daily NK operates networks of sources inside North Korea who document events in real-time and transmit information through secure channels. 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The Ministry of Defense&#8217;s inspection bureau found that commanders of the unit responsible for defending Pyongyang had misappropriated a large amount of money [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":66275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,645],"tags":[3243],"class_list":["post-66274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-economy","tag-crime-corruption"],"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 defense ministry finds massive embezzlement in elite Pyongyang guard unit - 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-defense-ministry-finds-massive-embezzlement-in-elite-pyongyang-guard-unit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"North Korea defense ministry finds massive embezzlement in elite Pyongyang guard unit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Commanders of North Korea&#8217;s elite 91 Metropolitan Defense Corps were caught embezzling funds collected from soldiers and their families for modernizing and renovating base facilities, according to a recent defense ministry inspection. 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