Last month, 30 key cadres including North Hamgyong provincial party committee and Sinuiju city party committee were collectively purged for embezzling public funds. Among them, five people from a fishery company and a bank were executed. They were accused of embezzling 600,000 US dollars and depositing the money in a Chinese bank. For Chinese officials, 600,000 US dollars is just a small matter, there are plenty of such cases. However, in North Korea, this is considered a major case.
In addition to the five people who were executed, it is said that each person received 60 bullets during the execution. The provincial inspector who had shown favoritism to the corrupt officials had already self-harmed before the event. More than ten other people, including the defense minister and the central cadre of the Seoncheon County, were also dismissed from their positions. The lightest punishment was given to Kim Chol-ho, the organization minister of Sinuiju city party committee, who was demoted to a civil servant in Tongsong County. This leniency is due to his father being Kim Pyong-hae, the central organization minister. Those with strong backgrounds get promoted, while those without face severe punishments.
Choe Ryong-hae's father was Choe Hyon, a close comrade and colleague of Kim Il-sung, who once served as the Minister of People's Armed Forces. Choe Hyon consistently supported Kim Jong-il during the power struggle between Kim Il-sung's eldest son Kim Jong-il and his younger brother Kim Yong-ju in the 1970s. He was deeply favored by the Kim family until his death in 1982. In the mid-1990s, when the North Korean famine spread to Pyongyang, Choe Ryong-hae used the underground entertainment venue of the Pyongyang bowling alley as a base to live a luxurious life unimaginable for ordinary residents until he was dismissed in 1998. Choe Ryong-hae not only squandered the US dollars earned by the foreign exchange earning agencies under the Youth League but also harassed countless female actors from art troupes. To this day, Pyongyang residents and high-ranking officers of the People's Army still talk about Choe Ryong-hae's extravagant lifestyle.
All these corrupt officials, those with strong backgrounds get promoted, while those without face severe punishments. It is said that on the shooting range of the People's Army, each person executed receives 60 bullets. In 1998, when Kim Jong-il formally took power, he ordered the People's Security Department to "make the gunshots heard". At that time, even thieves were shot dead. Following his father's footsteps, Kim Jong-un has also started to carry out mass executions, "let the whole country hear the gunshots". North Korea governs by the sound of guns, making sure no one dares to be corrupt. As the Buddha says, 60 is a minor calamity, so we shoot 60 bullets. Perhaps it's not that complicated, if you embezzle 600,000 US dollars, then one bullet per 10,000 US dollars! That's harsh, which is more like Kim Jong-il's style.