The Hoeryong police chief was recently demoted and transferred after his daughter was caught watching South Korean dramas, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in North Hamgyong province told Daily NK on Aug. 26 that the police chief was demoted two ranks in the organizational hierarchy as punishment for his daughter’s crime and was given a lesser assignment as a district chief.
“The provincial police bureau sent a warning to senior officials of law enforcement organizations to ensure that their homes are free of crimes related to reactionary ideology and culture,” the source explained.
“The police chief was demoted not one but two ranks, but he considers himself lucky. He’s praising the Workers’ Party’s mercy for letting him off with an unfavorable reassignment while his own daughter was watching South Korean dramas.”
Daughter caught red-handed
The police chief’s daughter is a student in her 20s at O Jung-hup Chongjin First Teachers’ College. In late July, she and two friends were caught watching South Korean dramas on a flash drive at their dormitory near the college during a nighttime inspection by a government task force charged with monitoring anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior.
During an interrogation, law enforcement officials determined that the flash drive in question belonged to the daughter of the police chief.
After being informed of the incident, the provincial police bureau called an emergency meeting of the provincial law enforcement organizations to stress the need for officials to “revolutionize the home” in view of their responsibility to eliminate anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior in society.
“When the marshal (Kim Jong Un) recently visited the site of flood reconstruction in Sinuiju, he said that rebuilding after the floods is a great ‘battle against the enemy,’” the provincial police bureau said, announcing that the police chief had been removed from his post and demoted in rank. “At such a time, it’s absolutely unforgivable for the very law enforcement agencies responsible for the security of the state to be negligent in revolutionizing the home, which is an insult to both the party and the supreme leader.”
The idea of cultivating the revolutionary spirit in the home through various educational programs was first proposed at a meeting of the Socialist Women’s Union of Korea in March 1968. North Korea has repeatedly emphasized political and ideological education in the home, treating families as individual cells within the larger family of socialism.
This issue was addressed in Article 27 (Young People’s Basic Need for School Education, Family Education and Social Education) of the Youth Education Guarantee Law adopted in 2021.
Article 27 of the law says: “The main demand of the youth education program is that schools, families and society should fulfill their roles and responsibilities in providing revolutionary education to young people. Institutions, enterprises, organizations and citizens must serve as educators and mentors for young people, who are the future of the motherland, and educate them to become socialist men and women imbued with collectivist ideology, patriotism and a noble outlook on life.”
According to the source, “In North Korea, if an official is called out for failing to revolutionize his family, it can cause problems for the whole family, including distant relatives. That’s why some people are relieved not to have officials in their families. People generally think that the Hoeryong police chief has received the appropriate punishment for being lax in raising his own children.”
Severity of punishment raises questions
However, the police chief’s demotion is a harsher punishment than what is actually described in the Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Law. A fine of 100,000-200,000 North Korean won is warranted if a crime of reactionary ideology or culture is committed because parents are negligent in raising their children, according to Article 37, Paragraph 4. This suggests that the regime is demonstrating to the public that negligence on the part of law enforcement officials will be dealt with with particular severity.
That being said, while entire families used to be sent to political prison camps for such offenses, this time the only punishment was police chief’s demotion. This indicates that anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior is so pervasive in law enforcement that there is no hope of eliminating it.
In addition to stressing the need to “revolutionize the family,” the provincial police bureau has renewed calls for anyone in possession of “reprehensible capitalist videos” to turn themselves in to the authorities.
The source said the daughter of the Hoeryong police chief was being held for questioning at the Chongjin police station. Since the North Korean government currently calls South Korea its number one enemy, she is likely to be severely punished.
Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.
Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
August 30, 2024 at 06:00AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)