The Military Security Command, the North Korean military’s counterintelligence agency, has circulated a report detailing cases of illegal handling of foreign media within the organization over the past year. Additionally, a public trial was held in a military front-line unit to set an example.
The report, covering incidents from August 2023 to September 2024, was distributed to state security bureaus at the corps and command levels throughout the military on Oct. 2. A military source told Daily NK recently that the report’s main objectives are to monitor and punish ideological disloyalty among young soldiers and prevent information leaks to the outside world.
The day after distribution of the report, a public trial was held in a military front-line unit of the II Corps stationed in Kaepung county. Nine male soldiers in their 20s, investigated between June and early October for handling foreign media, stood trial. The location was chosen due to the high number of such cases in the area and to increase vigilance among soldiers close to the South Korean border.
During the trial, seven soldiers were convicted of distributing illegal videos and sentenced to dishonorable discharge and prison terms of up to ten years and six months. Two others, identified as ringleaders in circulating unauthorized foreign-made electronic devices, received death sentences. The seven incarcerated soldiers were immediately sent to prison, while the two sentenced to death were executed at the unit’s firing range the following day.
Following the trial, state security bureau representatives met with the II Corps’ state security department, urging them to reinforce ideological controls, surveillance of young soldiers, and training to prevent similar incidents.
The state security bureau has ordered departments in each unit to use surveillance and education to combat young soldiers’ curiosity about foreign media and to punish such behavior. In response, the II Corps’ state security department plans to tighten internal policing and restrict outside information, confining soldiers under surveillance to base from Oct. 1 to Nov. 3, coinciding with preparations for winter exercises.
The Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.
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October 21, 2024 at 07:17AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)