A North Korean official in charge of policing anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior in Kosong county, Kangwon province, was arrested for corruption.
A source in the province said recently that the Kangwon provincial party committee convened provincial party officials and provincial law enforcement officers, including the heads of the provincial state security bureau, police bureau and prosecutors’ office, at the provincial party headquarters early this month. The officials were informed during the meeting about the arrest of the head of Kosong county’s anti-socialist and non-socialist unified command, an individual surnamed Kim.
Kim, a state security agent with the rank of lieutenant colonel, had committed numerous infractions during several years of service with the county’s anti-socialist and non-socialist unified command. Numerous complaints from county residents had finally reached the ears of the provincial party committee, leading to Kim’s arrest.
The provincial party committee disclosed several dozen examples of Kim’s misconduct over the years. Notably, he had openly watched banned South Korean videos that he had confiscated and had even shared those videos with friends and family.
Kim’s bribe-taking was a habitual matter. When he caught people engaged in anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior in random nighttime raids, he would let them off the hook for a bribe, and he also accepted bribes to release people who had been apprehended by other officers in the joint command.
“Kim had such an audacious reputation for soliciting bribes that locals complained he was even worse than Japanese policemen during the colonial era. Even inside the county’s anti-socialist and non-socialist unified command, he had a reputation for being spineless and nasty. Eventually, fed-up locals started reporting him to the provincial party committee, which launched an internal investigation,” the source said.
After reviewing the various ways Kim had exploited his office, the provincial party committee decided he could no longer lead the county’s unified command and ordered that he be strictly prosecuted.
Notably, the provincial party committee denounced Kim as a “short-sighted counter-revolutionary totally corrupted by noxious capitalistic culture.”
But the source noted that Kim’s legal punishment had not yet been decided.
“Considering that state security agents haven’t been punished very severely in the past, it’s widely expected that Kim will only lose his party membership and his position,” the source said.
February 28, 2025 at 06:00AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)