Archive for the ‘National Defense Commission’ Category

North Korean state security agents fine Chinese visitors for making phone calls abroad

Thursday, August 9th, 2018

Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein

Daily NK:

North Korean Ministry of State Security (MSS) agents have been ramping up the issuance of monetary fines for Chinese business people and drivers in the country for various infractions.

“Chinese business people and truck drivers are being fined for taking calls from China while they are in North Korea,” a source in China close to North Korean affairs told Daily NK on August 7. “A surveillance agent stationed near the Wonjong Border Customs Office is stopping vehicles driven by Chinese business people and truckers who are detected receiving calls and issuing them with fines.”

“Chinese tourists have their phones confiscated by travel agencies so they cannot make calls, but business people and truck drivers are under no such restrictions and could previously receive calls from China without issue,” he continued, adding that international calls to China are permitted within a radius of one kilometer of the customs office.

Chinese nationals affected are responding with incredulity at the 1,000 yuan fines for taking calls from China but “they are forced to pay the fine, however, because they depend on good relations with the North Korean authorities to conduct cross-border business.”

MSS agents have long forced North Koreans to pay bribes in exchange for letting them off the hook for making international calls. But these agents are now more pressed than ever to find ways to earn money and it appears that Chinese nationals are now in their crosshairs.

The North Korean government keeps a watchful eye over the activities of its agents, but corruption has such deep roots within the MSS that agents have no qualms with taking advantage of Chinese nationals.

One of the driving forces behind the push to earn more money is the nationwide requirement to pay “loyalty funds,” which is aimed at supporting development of the Wonsan-Kalma marine tourist zone and the Samjiyon area.

On top of their surveillance of cellphone users, MSS agents are also fining Chinese vehicles that carry North Korean passengers.

‘There are cases where Chinese truck drivers take on North Korean passengers to make a little extra cash, but MSS agents are cracking down on this activity and fining the drivers 500 KPW for each male passenger and 1,000 KPW for each female passenger. Chinese drivers are now increasingly ignoring hitchhikers on the road,” a source in North Hamgyong Province added.

“The fines are causing Chinese business people to be more watchful of their activities in North Korea. Some are even questioning whether they should even be doing business in the country.”

Article source:
MSS agents fine Chinese nationals for infractions to earn money
Mun Dong-hui
Daily NK
2018-08-09

Share

Currency arbitrage in North Korea

Tuesday, December 1st, 2015

By Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein

North Korean state personnel are making good money from currency arbitrage. Daily NK has a story on how security personnel in the country regularly buy foreign currency in border towns where it’s cheaper than in cities like Pyongyang:

Using their authority over screening passengers on the train as a guise, MPS railway personnel in on the scheme actively pursue exchange deals in main border towns such as North Hamgyong Province’s Rason and North Pyongan Province’s Sinuiju. Each day, Pyongyang-based railway cadres pick out four members who are known to be good at nabbing these deals and put two as a team on the Pyongyang-Sinuiju (trains no. 5, 6) and Pyongyang-Duman River (trains no. 7, 8) trains, so they can exchange money, according to the source.   

This one example among many of state personnel benefit from informal economic activity, through their official roles. It often makes little sense to talk about the market versus the state, as if they were two wholly separate entities.

Read the full story:
MPS personnel profiting on exchange rate disparities
Choi Song Min
Daily NK 
12-01-2015

Share

Second session of 13th Supreme People’s Assembly

Thursday, September 25th, 2014

UPDATE 3 (2014-9-25): Kim Jong-un did not attend the SPA meeting.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

North Korea’s young leader wasn’t in his customary seat as the country convened its rubber-stamp parliament Thursday, adding to South Korean media speculation that Kim Jong Un may be ill.

Only part of the meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly was shown on state TV, but Mr. Kim wasn’t present and apparently missed the meeting for the first time since he took power after the death of his father Kim Jong Il in December 2011, according to an official for the South’s Unification Ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity because of office rules.

The usually ubiquitous Mr. Kim, the third member of his family to rule the country, hasn’t been seen in state media since attending a Pyongyang concert on Sept. 3. He was shown limping on television in July and again earlier this month, and South Korean media have speculated that Kim has been ill, although there has been no discussion of the absence in the North’s state-run media.

According to Reuters:

Kim, who is considerably overweight, has not featured in state media broadcasts since appearing at a concert alongside his wife and former state entertainer Ri Sol Ju this month.

In July, he was seen walking with a limp at an event with key officials.

But analysts warned against reading too much into Kim’s absence.

“Kim Jong Il didn’t attend every time, either,” said Chris Green, a North Korea expert at Seoul-based Daily NK website. “Moreover, we know that the SPA primarily performs a demonstrative function, it is not a true decision-making body.”

UPDATE 2 (2104-9-25): KCNA reports on the second session of the 13th SPA. Most of the copy is dedicated to continuing education reforms, however at the end of the article, personnel changes at the National Defense Commission are announced:

It recalled Deputy Choe Ryong Hae from the post of vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission (NDC) of the DPRK due to his transfer to other post and Deputy Jang Jong Nam from the post of member of the NDC of the DPRK due to his transfer to other post.

It elected Deputy Hwang Pyong So to fill the vacancy as vice-chairman of the NDC of the DPRK and Deputies Hyon Yong Chol and Ri Pyong Chol to fill the vacancy as members of the NDC of the DPRK at the proposal of Marshal Kim Jong Un.

This list of NDC members (as of October 2013 )can be found here.

Reuters notes:

At the meeting, state media said, Choe Ryong Hae had been removed from the post of vice chairman of the National Defence Commission, a body chaired by Kim, and was replaced by Hwang Pyong So.

Hwang is a member of a powerful faction created in the 1970s under former leader Kim Jong Il, the father of the current leader, to boost a personality cult around his family.

Choe had been widely seen as a new right-hand man to Kim Jong Un after he purged his uncle last year, but had since fallen back into the shadows.

“Hwang’s appointment as NDC Vice Chairman shows that he has truly risen to become the regime’s de facto number two official,” said Michael Madden, a North Korean leadership expert and contributor to the 38 North website.

Hwang was appointed “according to the wishes of Marshall Kim Jong Un”, the North’s official KCNA news agency said.

Here is the full story:

2nd Session of 13th Supreme People’s Assembly of DPRK Held

Pyongyang, September 25 (KCNA) — The 2nd Session of the 13th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) of the DPRK was held at the Mansudae Assembly Hall Thursday.

Present there were deputies to the SPA.

Officials of the party, armed forces and power organs, public organizations, ministries, national institutions and the fields of science, education, literature and art, public health and media attended it as observers.

All the participants observed a moment’s silence in memory of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il.

SPA Chairman Choe Thae Bok made an opening address.

The session discussed agenda items on summing up the implementation of “On Enforcing Universal 12-Year Compulsory Education”, the Ordinance of the SPA of the DPRK, and an organizational matter.

Deputy Pak Pong Ju, premier of the Cabinet, made a report on the first agenda item.

The reporter said that the 6th Session of the 12th SPA held in September, Juche 101 (2012) promulgated Ordinance on Enforcing Universal 12-Year Compulsory Education in line with the new requirements of the developing revolution.

According to the report, a work for successfully enforcing the schooling has been dynamically pushed forward as the one involving the whole state, all people and the whole society and signal successes have been made in it.

The work for operating the six-year secondary schools by dividing them into three-year junior secondary schools and three-year senior secondary schools has been wound up in a brief span of time. The first phase programs for the universal 12-year compulsory education were worked out in a matter of one and half years and textbooks of new contents and style were compiled.

Expenditure has been increased in educational field at the state budget, the State Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance, provincial people’s committees and relevant institutions have ensured funds needed for educational work as planned, thus strengthening the material and technological foundation of schools.

Over the past two years since the promulgation of the ordinance new classrooms have been built or constructed on an expansion basis at schools across the country and many school things produced.

The reporter referred to the tasks facing the field of education.

He underlined the need to build well the ranks of teachers and decisively raise their qualifications and roles.

The general senior secondary schools should teach students with main emphasis on general secondary knowledge and senior secondary technical schools should make preparations in a responsible manner for giving education in basic technology to suit the economic and geographical peculiarities of the relevant areas while giving general education in conformity with the operation of senior secondary technical schools, new type schooling, on a trial basis, he noted.

He also underlined the need to positively push ahead with the work for putting the nation’s universal general secondary education including genius education on a new high stage, reinforce the research forces at educational and scientific research institutions and increase their responsibilities and roles.

He called for improving the conditions and environment for education to be fit for the appearance of a highly civilized socialist country.

Speakers at the session renewed their resolution to decisively improve the quality of education to meet the realistic requirements of the developing education in the age of knowledge-based economy and suit the trend of the world and thus train the younger generation as more dependable revolutionary talents of Juche type equipped with perfect general secondary knowledge, modern basic technological knowledge and creative ability.

The session adopted “On Comprehensively Enforcing Universal 12-Year Compulsory Education and Decisively Improving Its Quality”, the Decision of the SPA of the DPRK.

It discussed the second agenda item.

It recalled Deputy Choe Ryong Hae from the post of vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission (NDC) of the DPRK due to his transfer to other post and Deputy Jang Jong Nam from the post of member of the NDC of the DPRK due to his transfer to other post.

It elected Deputy Hwang Pyong So to fill the vacancy as vice-chairman of the NDC of the DPRK and Deputies Hyon Yong Chol and Ri Pyong Chol to fill the vacancy as members of the NDC of the DPRK at the proposal of Marshal Kim Jong Un.

UPDATE 1 (2014-9-18): The Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES) reports on the DPRK’s education policy:

North Korea Prioritizes Budget Support for the Modernization of Education in the Age of Knowledge-Based Economy

A September 6, 2014 article in the Rodong Sinmun reported that First Chairman of the National Defence Commission Kim Jong Un has begun to usher in a “revolution in education for the new century” and emphasized the need to construct a “world power of socialist education in the 21st century” at the 13th National Meeting of Educators held on Sept. 5.

At the meeting, Kim Jong Un’s work, entitled, “Let Us Make a Revolution in Education in the New Century to Glorify Our Country as the One of Education and a Power of Talents” was presented to participants.

In his work, Kim Jong Un advocates for this “revolution in education for the new century,” saying, “Education is part of an unending patriotic plan for the wealth and prosperity of the nation and the people.” The work emphasizes, “How we educate our posterity will be the determining factor of the nation’s power and the propagation of the revolution.”

Kim Jong Un also stated, “The goal to be attained by the revolution in education in the new century is to turn the country into a power of socialist education in the 21st century by bringing up all school youth and children as reliable pillars for the building of a thriving nation and educating all the people to be well versed in science and technology.” To achieve this, Kim Jong Un emphasized that the “decisive strengthening” of secondary education is the fundamental link of the education revolution.

He states, “Just as how trees with the strongest roots grow the perfect fruit, secondary education must be strengthened in order to produce talented individuals and raise the overall level of intelligence of workers.”

He continues, “In order to realize the grand goal of the revolution in education for the new century, the strong leadership guidance provided by the Party’s Juche-based education ideology and policy must be implemented according to the demands of the generation and the development of the revolution.”

More specifically, his work mentions the importance of improving the education system: “An important task facing the revolution in education in the new century is to round off the educational system and improve the guidance and management of the educational work in order to successfully train talents of new type required by the era.”

Kim Jong Un also emphasized the need to rear wholesome, well-rounded children from the time they are young while at home, school, and out in society. Furthermore, he stated, “The education in the age of knowledge-based economy should not be the one for letting students learn existing knowledge but it should be developed in the direction of putting its contents on a practical, comprehensive and modern basis so that students may grasp faster new and useful knowledge and more successfully apply them in practice.”

In order to accomplish this, Kim Jong Un said, “All the fields should regard the educational work as part of their work, always pay deep attention to it and help solve the issues arising in the field of education in a responsible manner.”

ORIGINAL POST (2014-9-4): According to KCNA:

DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly to Be Convened

Pyongyang, September 5 (KCNA) — The Second Session of the 13th Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will be held in Pyongyang on September 25, Juche 103 (2014).

A relevant decision of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly was promulgated on Sept. 4.

Information on the first session of the 13th SPA can be found here.

Information on the election of the 13th SPA can be found here.

Here is what the Daily NK has to say:

It is the norm for the SPA to convene each spring to carry out the core responsibilities of ratifying personnel changes and hearing budgetary reports. Two of the more noteworthy results of the meeting in April this year were then-Director of the KPA General Political Department Choe Ryong Hae being made a deputy in the National Defense Commission, and Ri Su Yong being handed the foreign affairs portfolio. Ri, a seasoned diplomat, is scheduled to speak to the UN General Assembly later this month.

Conversely, second sessions do not occur every year as a matter of course; rather, they are convened when necessary for the accomplishment of Workers’ Party objectives. One such session convened on September 25th, 2012, for instance, resulted in wide-ranging changes to the state education system, most notably the addition of a 12th year of mandatory schooling.

As a result, attention is set to focus on personnel shifts and the possibility of major policy announcements.

Share

DPRK strengthens travel restrictions along Chinese border

Sunday, April 28th, 2013

…More signs of “forward to the past”?

Last week the Daily NK reported that the DPRK had been distributing enough rice to lower the price. It is still unclear if this practice will continue.  This week the Daily NK reports that the DPRK has stepped up travel restrictions along the Chinese border:

The North Korean authorities are operating enhanced controls on transit through the region of the country closest to China, including close checks on the documentation of travellers passing through in the direction of the Sino-North Korean border.

Part of the process means it has become more difficult to obtain travel permits. Although the issuance of such permits was recently resumed following months of combat mobilization and other activities that limited movement, the process of traveling through the border is making life difficulties.

A North Hamkyung Province source told Daily NK on the 26th, “The issuance of travel permits resumed on the 21st of last month, but the procedure when moving in the border region has gotten more demanding than ever. Travel permits need to be approved with not just the signature but also the seal of a person’s local PSM (Ministry of People’s Safety), relevant security agency and workplace, and if the trip is for a traditional ceremonial occasion such as a funeral then they must get a further confirmation letter saying so.”

“In the past, they did not ask for the confirmation letter, or the seal of the local security forces and NSA (National Security Agency, the state security organ) for that matter. But now they are asking for this and that certificate; it’s as if travellers are criminals,” the source said, recalling, “We used to be able to easily get travel permits by bribing people or having close associates in certain positions.”

Even for those with a permit there are still multiple layers of security and checks on the way to the border.

“Even after you get a travel permit by paying bribes, there are still the PSM agents on the trains and railway staff doing hourly checks,” the source said. “People say it is worse than the customs checks on the border.”

“Stations are being locked down by soldiers and then intensive body and baggage checks are taking place at Gomusan (the station before Musan and Hoiryeong on the Musan Line (train 9-10) and Sariwon-Rajin Line (train 113-114)) and at Huchang (the station before Rajin on the Pyongyang-Tumen River Line (train 7-8)),” the source noted. “They even have magnetic detectors for the body checks.”

Travellers ensnared by the checks are supposed to be detained locally until a security agent from his or her area of residence arrives to deal with the case. However, payments of 50,000 to 100,000 Won are apparently sufficient to attain release for those who simply don’t have the right transit permits. The only ones whose release cannot be obtained so easily are those caught with South Korean materials in their baggage; they face re-education or labor camp sentences, sources say.

Read the full story here:
Strain on the Border Trains
Daily NK
Choi Song Min
2013-4-29

Share

ROK arrests 25 DPRK spies in last five years

Sunday, January 27th, 2013

According to the Korea Herald (Yonhap):

More than two dozen North Korean spies have been arrested in the past five years of South Korea’s outgoing government of President Lee Myung-bak, officials said Sunday, a nearly 40 percent rise from the previous administration.

A total of 25 spies have been arrested in South Korea since the Lee government was launched in early 2008, officials said. That represented a 39 percent increase from 18 spies caught in the previous government of President Roh Moo-hyun.

By year, two of the 25 were caught in 2009, 10 in 2010, five in 2011, and eight between 2012 and January this year. In particular, 14 of the spies came to South Korea posing as defectors, officials said.

Last week, intelligence sources said they arrested an official of the Seoul city government for spying charges. The 33-year-old came to South Korea in 2004, disguising himself as a North Korean defector. In 2011, he was hired by the Seoul city government as a two-year contract official.

Yoo’s job at the city government was helping North Korean defectors, and he has been charged with passing to Pyongyang sensitive information about thousands of North Korean defectors living in Seoul.

Read the full story here:
25 N. Korean spies arrested in past 5 years
Korean Herald (Yonahp)
2013-1-27

Share

New Kim Jong-il statue at MSS/SSD headquarters

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

KCNA ran the following headline on 2012-10-2: “Statue of Generalissimo Kim Jong Il Erected at KPA Unit [10215]“.

According to Ken Gause, KPA Unit 10215 is the military cover designation of the 국가안전보위부 — the Ministry of State Security (MSS) [a.k.a. State Security Department (SSD), National Security Agency (NSA), State Political Security Department (SPSD)].

Checking the Google Earth imagery, we can in fact see the statue under construction at the MSS headquarters in front of the General Bureau Building.

Pictured above (Google Earth:  39.074311°, 125.767690°): Tarps covering the newly unveiled Kim Jong-il statue. Image date: 2012-6-20.

You can see a video of the unveiling on North Korean television below. This is the first time, of which I am aware, that the MSS headquarters has been shown on television:

(UPDATE) NK Leadership Watch also covered the unveiling and provides additional information.

In related news, the Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung statues on Mansu Hill have been covered up for renovations. In his latest at 38 North, Ruediger Frank also publishes a photo.

All images of the Kims are produced by the Mansudae Art Studio in Phyongchon District, Pyongyang.

Share

Taedonggang Fruit Processing Factory Railway Line

Friday, September 14th, 2012

Pictured above (Google Earth): The new Taedonggang Fruit Processing Factory Railway Line (in yellow). I previously blogged about this railway line here.

On August 31, KCNA announced “Railway line of Taedonggang Combined Fruit Processing Factory goes operational” and that the opening ceremony was attended by staff from the Ministry of People’s Security (MPS) and Korean People’s Internal Security Forces (KPISF). The KPISF is part of the MPS.

The presence of so many security personnel might seem odd for the opening of a railway line that is intended to provide fruit products to North Korean consumers. However, because this very same railway line connects the Kim family compound in Kangdong with the city of Phyongsong by rail (See above map), the heavy security presence seems understandable.  This railway line will be heavily watched.

The interesting (and speculative) takeaway is that it might be the case that security for the Kim family is now under the portfolio of the KPISF and not the State Security Department (SSD, Ministry of State Security, anjon-bowibu), KPA, or Military Security Command.

To learn more about the North Korean security services, check out: Coercion, Control, Surveillance, and Punishment: An Examination of the North Korean Police State by Ken E. Gause.

Below is the complete report featured in KCNA:

Railway Line of Taedonggang Combined Fruit Processing Factory Goes Operational

Pyongyang, August 31 (KCNA) — A new railway line branching into the Taedonggang Combined Fruit Processing Factory went operational with due ceremony on Friday.

The operation of the railway line helps satisfactorily carry fruits and processed goods produced by the Taedonggang Combined Fruit Farm and factories in this area and materials necessary for their management and operation.

Present at the ceremony were officials of the Ministry of People’s Security, servicepersons of the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces, officials concerned, builders and employees of the factory.

At the end of the ceremony the first train carrying fruits to be supplied to Pyongyang citizens left the factory.

Share

Coercion, control, surveillance, and punishment: An examination of the North Korean police state

Thursday, July 19th, 2012

Today The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) is releasing “Coercion, Control, Surveillance, and Punishment: An Examination of the North Korean Police State” (PDF) by Ken Gause.

Here is the table of contents:

Part I: The Internal Security Agencies
–State Security Department (SSD)
–Ministry of People’s Security (MPS)
–Military Security Command (MSC)
–Neighborhood Watch Units (In-min-ban)
–Ad Hoc Social Monitoring Organizations
Part II: What the Internal Security Agencies Do
–Surveillance of North Korea’s Citizens
–Investigation and Detention
–The Role of Internal Security Agencies in Trials
–The Role of the Internal Security Agencies in Prisons
Part III: History of the Internal Security Apparatus
–Formative Years (1945 and 1950)
–Purging the Enemies of the State (1950s and 1960s)
–Kimilsungism and the Monolithic Guidance System (1970–1980)
–Kim Jong-il as Heir Apparent (1980–1994)
–Intrigue Following Kim Il-sung’s Death (1994–1998)
–Kim Jong-il Regime
–Laying the Groundwork for Kim Jong-un’s Succession
–Kim Jong-un Regime
Conclusion
–Appendix I: Biographies of Key Internal Security Officials
–Appendix II: An Example of a North Korean Ministry of People’s Security Decree.180
–Appendix III: An Example of a North Korean Arrest Warrant

Additional Information:
1. Here is coverage in Yonhap

2. Here is coverage in the AFP

Share

Fewer Japanese cars reported on DPRK roads

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

According to the Daily NK:

Japanese-made vehicles are disappearing from the streets of North Korea, six years after Kim Jong Il decreed that it should happen. Indeed, just two years ago it seemed that a majority of the vehicles on the streets were still those made by Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi, but this is no longer the case.

According to a Chongjin source who spoke with Daily NK yesterday, “In accordance with a 2010 National Defense Commission order saying that all Japanese cars had to be off the streets by last December, now you can hardly see any Japanese private cars or vans in the entire country.”

The NDC order reportedly pertained to private cars and vans of 1.5T or less, although the source said that trucks of Japanese origin are also meant to be phased out over the next couple of years as well.

The move is said to relate to a decree issued by Kim Jong Il in 2006 in which he demanded that all Japanese cars had to be gotten rid of. He apparently issued it after watching unhappily as a Japanese car overtook his own on the Pyongyang-Wonsan highway.

Another case is instructive in showing the degree of official dislike. In 2008, Namkang Trading Co. had already been importing second hand Japanese cars through Rasun for some time. However, a provincial Party secretary received a report on the removal of Japanese cars, and as a result more than 300 such cars were gathered in a local stadium and turned into scrap metal using fork cranes as cadres watched on.

But it was not really until four years after Kim’s original decree that implementation hit its stride, because it took some time to secure sufficient replacement vehicles. Pyongyang municipal, Party, state and security organs were the first to lose theirs in 2010, followed in 2011 by factories, enterprises and foreign currency earning units.

According to the source, “At the time, there were more than 100 perfectly good vehicles taken from North Hamkyung Provincial Party Committee alone.” The transportation head in the province apparently commented that “tens of thousands of perfectly sound vehicles have been gotten rid of nationwide.”

However, in October, 2010, Kim Jong Il delivered cars as gifts to key individuals and organizations. There were nationwide events held to celebrate receipt of the vehicles. Cadres at provincial Party departmental head and above received Chinese vehicles, while local Party secretaries and people’s committee chairmen received Russian ones. Factories and enterprises were subsequently ordered to purchase vehicles produced domestically in Nampo by ‘Pyeonghwa Motors’, a joint venture with the Seoul-based Unification Church, but this didn’t always happen.

The relative popularity of Japanese vehicles in North Korea stems in part from their build quality, which allows them to traverse the often sketchy North Korean roads, and in part from the fact that they used to represent a good trading opportunity in the 1980s and 90s. At that time, such vehicles could be imported from Japan and sold on to Chinese businesses at a profit margin of up to 400%. Domestic popularity was one of the inevitable side-effects of this trade.

Previous posts on this topic here (2007-7-11) and here (2007-7-27).

Read the full story here:
Japanese Cars Crashing Out
Daily NK
Choi Song Min
2012-5-31

Share

Border Security Goes Back to NSA

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012

According to the Daily NK:

Information from inside North Korea suggests that jurisdiction over border security has been moved from the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces to the National Security Agency(NSA), in a special order given by new leader Kim Jong Eun which has seen border security units undergoing an administrative switch to the NSA on April 16.

Read more below:

(more…)

Share