Rumors: If I Were Part of the North Korean Elite…
by Richardson ~ February 12th, 2008. Filed under: Defectors & Refugees, Economics, Kim Jong-il, North Korea.The power of rumors should not be underestimated. Recently two rumors should be of great concern to the elites of the Kim regime. Last month there were reports that Kim Jong-il had ordered, “all of the regime’s institutions [to] reduce their bureaucracies and the number of senior officials by 30 percent.” Now we hear that:
North Korea is in the midst of a massive anti-corruption drive … ordered by leader Kim Jong-il, [which] was prompted by widespread allegations that some top party and administration officials took bribes as they pushed business projects with South Korean industrialists.
[. . .]
According to the sources in Seoul, the North Korean leader was enraged after getting a report that some party and government officials allegedly pocketed bribes and diverted food and other aid from South Korea to black markets.
Since the regime elite basically live of such bribery and black market activity, probably a good portion are vulnerable to such charges, even though most will have no connection to South Korean business enterprises. If the spotlight shines in their direction, they could be next.
If the rumors are accurate, the result likely is an extremely nervous and wary population of elites, many of whom have enough resources to escape North Korea. As I said last month, that would be a wonderful gift (in defectors) for ROK and U.S. intelligence services.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
I really do not see how that will work when the Policy Elites are one of the legs holding the regime together. If the rumors are true, that may means splits and factions can occur.
The cracks are showing, and it is only a matter of time before it fals apart and nobody seems to care.
February 14th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Jack, you make a good point. It may be, though, that Kim feels he has enough control to weed out some of the lesser of the elite by playing them off on each other. We won’t know until defectors or records tell us, or perhaps some Daily NK sources.
February 14th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Well, in the Policy Elites paper, it is suggested strongly he does play one against the other to remain in power, but obviously, is a risk in any regime. Even Hwang Jang Yop a prized defector only had limited information. This is because Kim only gave bits and pieces of info to choice people.
Whatever the case, the Elites is one of Kim’s legs of remaining power other than the KPA as you very well know.