Even smugglers in North Korea are having a tough time. Not from COVID-19 but from rapacious bureaucrats.
As North Korea attempts to hermetically seal its border to stop COVID-19 from entering the country, Daily NK has learned that bullying by bureaucrats in the border city of Sinuiju, North Pyongan Province, is growing worse by the day.
“Recently, demands for bribes by enforcement or customs officials in Sinuiju have reached extremes,” a source in North Pyongan Province told the Daily NK on Oct. 22. “As crackdowns on locals grow, people are clamoring that [times] are tough.”...
Some Ministry of State Security cadres are reportedly taking even more extreme measures: learning which smugglers have amassed plenty of property at their homes and visiting them to demand bribes.
“Smugglers [complain] that they’re getting swarmed by flies [Ministry of State Security officers] day in and day out,” the source said. “They’re groaning that they can’t make money with smuggling shut down and that they also have to cough up money.”
“Recently, demands for bribes by enforcement or customs officials in Sinuiju have reached extremes,” a source in North Pyongan Province told the Daily NK on Oct. 22. “As crackdowns on locals grow, people are clamoring that [times] are tough.”...
Some Ministry of State Security cadres are reportedly taking even more extreme measures: learning which smugglers have amassed plenty of property at their homes and visiting them to demand bribes.
“Smugglers [complain] that they’re getting swarmed by flies [Ministry of State Security officers] day in and day out,” the source said. “They’re groaning that they can’t make money with smuggling shut down and that they also have to cough up money.”
3 comments:
I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the Ministry of State security officers were also being watched by friends of the smugglers, who knew when they would have collected bribes. They could then go round and demand blackmail payments, and invest the gains in smuggling...
For N.Korea, read Dover and Folkestone...
Sam - maybe North Korea counts the growth of these transactions as a welcome rise in GDP.
Scrobs - I wonder if they get furlough payments too.
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