A North Korean security inspector was arrested in late August for allegedly smuggling illegal materials into Pyongyang using a vehicle designed to carry secret documents. The inspector, a lieutenant in his 30s, carried out the smuggling operation for several years at a checkpoint on the Pyongyang-Nampo road before being caught by the Capital Guard Brigade.
The illegal materials included USB sticks with foreign videos and music, foreign MP3s and MP4s, and foreign-made medicines, all of which are strictly prohibited by North Korean authorities. The man made considerable money selling the items to black marketers.
According to a source inside the country on Wednesday, the illegal activity was brought to light by a complaint from the vehicle’s officer in charge of handling secret communications. The officer loaded the items onto the vehicle at the man’s request, but found the regular requests odd and reported the matter to the unit’s security department.
The recent incident highlights the flaws in the checkpoint inspection system and the management of its inspectors. It also casts doubt on the North Korean government’s ability to enforce the law, given their pledge to eradicate anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior and severely punish the distribution of impure recordings by enacting the DPRK Law of Rejecting Reactionary Thought and Culture in late 2020.
In addition, the continued black market sale of foreign cultural goods proves the persistent internal demand for such materials, despite the state’s intensive crackdown.
Investigators trying to track source of illegal materials
The security department of the Capital Guard Brigade has been investigating the vehicle’s routes, as well as the dates and frequency of its use, in order to determine the source of the illegal materials the man was smuggling.
“This matter will be treated all the more seriously because it took place at a checkpoint on the road from Nampo to Pyongyang, or in short, at a checkpoint guarding the entrance to the capital of the revolutionary leadership,” the source said. Accordingly, the man is likely to face severe punishment.
The communications officer was praised for reporting the suspicious behavior, but the source said he may not escape punishment either because he loaded and transported illegal materials several times.