North Korean Policy Elites - Defense Technical Information Center
North Korean Policy Elites - Defense Technical Information Center
North Korean Policy Elites - Defense Technical Information Center
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Below are some of the general trading corporations - so-called foreign currency-earning<br />
companies - and the bureaucracies they serve. These companies offer 30 percent of their annual<br />
budget to the KWP CC’s Office 39 each year, in the name of foreign currency earned for<br />
“loyalty.” 77 General Trading Corporation Patron Organization<br />
Maebong General Trading<br />
Corporation<br />
Unha General Trading Corporation<br />
Samch’olli General Corporation<br />
Unbyol Trading Company<br />
Kumnung Trading Corporation<br />
Ministry of People’s Armed Forces<br />
Administration Council’s Light<br />
Industry Committee<br />
Administration Council’s External<br />
Economic Committee<br />
WPK Central Committee’s League<br />
of Socialist Working Youth of Korea<br />
Ministry of Machine Industry<br />
These ventures, however, are very risky because they can attract allegations of corruption<br />
and foreign espionage and can be used by the regime as a convenient excuse to purge officials<br />
who have fallen out of favor. There is little doubt that Kim Chong-il’s apparatus knows about<br />
these independent operations and can make use of them or destroy them if they become a<br />
threat. 78<br />
Efforts to Close Down Independent Channels of <strong>Information</strong><br />
Kim Chong-il on occasion has taken steps to close down independent channels of<br />
information to the senior leadership. Unlike efforts to restrict internal information flow, such as<br />
the institution of a comprehensive information management plan, access to external information<br />
has been restricted through purges and demotions.<br />
• The 1993 coup led to Kim Chong-il’s strategy, which has been resurrected several times<br />
since, to curb the elite’s access to the outside world. After putting down the coup attempt,<br />
Kim issued a special order to have all military officers, technicians, and scientists who<br />
had studied in the Soviet Union confined to hard labor for three years. In addition, he<br />
recalled all students studying in Russia and Eastern Europe. Finally, he retired all <strong>North</strong><br />
<strong>Korean</strong> military officers below the age of 50 who had studied in the Soviet Union. 79<br />
77 U Chong-ch’ang, “ROK Monthly on DPRK Kim Chong-il’s Slush Fund Deposits in Swiss Banks,” Seoul, Wolgan<br />
Choson (November 1, 2000), FBIS translation KPP20001019000046.<br />
78 Such a purification campaign took place in the late 1990s when several <strong>North</strong> <strong>Korean</strong> economic officials were<br />
purged for espionage related to their dealings with South Korea. It is rumored that some officials form alliances<br />
with security agencies to thwart the monitoring system. Discussion with <strong>North</strong> <strong>Korean</strong> analysts at the <strong>Korean</strong><br />
Institute for National Unification, December 2003.<br />
79 In addition to the retirements, over 300 high-ranking officers with contacts to the Soviet Union were allegedly<br />
executed between 1992 and 1994. According to one <strong>North</strong> <strong>Korean</strong> defector, the Soviet Union had actively sought<br />
II-40