The Seventh General Bureau of North Korea’s Ministry of Social Security is recruiting and selecting personnel to send to Russia, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in North Korea told Daily NK recently that the Seventh General Bureau “recently began recruiting and selecting mid-level officials from Namgang Trading Corporation and 40 to 60 soldiers to send to Russia to achieve an important state goal,” namely, earning foreign currency.
The soldiers recruited by the Seventh General Bureau will be sent to Namgang Trading Company, based in Moscow, and to other regions and tasked with earning a state quota of RUB 70,000 (USD 730) or more.
The bureau is preparing to dispatch the workers after drawing up internal regulations requiring North Korean soldiers already in Russia to contribute RUB 50,000 to RUB 60,000 (USD 520 to USD 625) and the newly dispatched ones to contribute RUB 70,000 (USD 730) or more, the source said.
The Seventh General Bureau has conducted thorough interviews with recruits and selectees under a policy of selecting optimal personnel unlikely to cause national security problems.
The interviews aim to instill a sense of grave responsibility in recruits, with the bureau explaining in detail what their duties and goals would be if they were selected to go to Russia and stressing that they would play an essential role in promoting national interests.
“The Seventh General Bureau plans to provide systematic education and training to personnel selected for overseas duty so that they can successfully carry out their mission in Russia,” the source said. “In the case of enlisted men, the bureau is choosing soldiers between the ages of 20 and 24 for a two-year deployment and plans to send the selected personnel to Russia by the end of August.”
In particular, the bureau will pay high salaries to the mid-level officials from Namgang Trading Corporation, a fact that has drawn attention. Because of this, candidates are quietly paying bribes to be selected, the source said.
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons.
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July 31, 2024 at 05:30AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)