By Kim Se-jeong
North Korea has recently conducted a nationwide inspection of regional party officials to root out corruption, in what appears to be a political cleansing to support Kim Jong-un’s rise as heir.
According to North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity, an NGO based in Seoul dedicated to spreading news about North Korea, the central inspection committee and the provincial authorities of the North’s Workers’ Party in North Hamgyeong Province ran a week-long evaluation early November on provincial officials, and found 15 of them guilty of corruption.
Quoting an anonymous source from North Korea, the NGO said the 15 were mostly accused of having taken bribes from by local residents, who were attempting to defect, or were involved in illegitimate trade activities.
Among them were border patrol officers, who are supposed to stop people from fleeing the country. The source said the accused are expected to be sent to prison camps.
Given the fact that the regime is expected to have a new leader, who is extremely young, the party purge does not come as unexpected.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry announced Monday that the number of North Korean defectors in here has surpassed 20,000.
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