Analysis has been made that residents’ backlash먹튀검증 is growing as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s closest associates grant illegal favors and collect bribes, such as in the ‘recruitment business’.
Koh Young-hwan, a former North Korean diplomat who defected and former vice president of the Institute for National Security Strategy, told the Dong-A Ilbo on the 4th, “According to elite defectors from the party, government, and military who recently defected from North Korea, even the highest-ranking North Korean officials are maintaining power while avoiding the eyes of Kim Jong-un and the censorship body of the Workers’ Party of Korea. “It is said that they are abusing it for personal gain,” he said.
Former Deputy Director Goh selected two of Chairman Kim’s close associates, Hyon Song-wol, Vice Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers’ Party, and Ri Son-gwon, Director of the Party’s Unified Front Department, as representative figures involved in corruption.
According to this, the current vice-president is known to have secretly accumulated foreign currency while running a trading company, and has received bribes by resolving the scandals of college classmates and art troupe colleagues. Former Deputy Director Goh said, “The Party Central Committee’s Disciplinary Investigation Department and the Organizational Guidance Department are said to be aware of the actions of Vice President Hyun, but are keeping quiet because they are conscious of their special relationship with Chairman Kim.” Manager Lee is known to introduce relatives and acquaintances to good jobs and receive foreign currency in return.
It is also reported that corruption among party executives in charge of large cities such as Pyongyang and Wonsan is rampant. Former Deputy Director Goh said, “They are openly trading in large city residence permits or right to allocate houses with good location conditions, in exchange for bribes worth more than $3,000 (approximately 3.95 million won).”