The Party and the military, the two pillars of the North Korean regime, are not getting along

Yanji, China — It is reported that conflict has broken out between the Party and the military over the murder of a military laborer who was gunned down and killed in Hyesan of Yangkang Province on February 28th by an agent from the state’s ‘inspection unit against anti-socialism activities.’

A source from Yangkang Province said in a telephone conversation with the Daily NK on March 10th, “In the morning of February 28th, a local resident at Railroad Village in Wiyeon-dong 25-Ban in Hyesan was shot and killed by a security agent from the state inspection unit for the reason of being non-cooperative to the inspection.”

The source said, “The agent who killed the resident is originally from another province and was transferred to the security agency of Yangkang Province. And the deceased is a mechanic employed at the No. 8 Bureau, which provide military supplies to the Korean People’s Army, stationed in Hyesan.”

Before I followed this issue, I used to believe that all forms of corruption are bad and should be avoided. While I still believe that, in the context of North Korea, corruption seems to be the most effective way to cause regime to collapse. Because it depends on the people believing in the ideology (they are not in it for the money i.e. China), corruption is slowly chipping away at this belief. While corruption has negative impact on society, in North Korea’s case it cannot be worse than the impact its society has on its people.

Sneaking a camera into North Korea, just for the lulz

God bless them.

Update: Episodes 6-9 is up.

If by abridged version of the State Department’s human rights report on North Korea you mean removing anything that suggests the regime still runs a gulag (via. ROK Drop)

WASHINGTON, March 5 (Yonhap) — The U.S. State Department is choosing its words carefully in preparing its annual report assessing human rights conditions in other countries, specifically North Korea, the focus of stalled nuclear disarmament talks, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Glyn Davies, principal deputy assistant secretary for East Asia and the Pacific, e-mailed Erica Barks-Ruggles, deputy assistant secretary for democracy, human rights and labor, on Friday asking for changes in the language on North Korea, according to the report.

If one were to count on these reports as the only, one would think North Korea’s human rights problem has been solved. Buy hey, anything for a resemblance of making progress.