Ringleaders of gold smuggling ring harshly punished
The revelation that the ringleaders behind a gold smuggling ring were part of a foreign currency-earning company operated by the Ministry of State Security has led to severe punishment for all those involved.
The individuals who supervised the gold smuggling scheme have been executed and long prison sentences have handed out to their accomplices. It turns out that the smuggling was arranged by the heads of the general affairs department and financial affairs department at a trading company affiliated with Unit 10121 of the MSS’s Logistics Bureau.
The two officials are believed to have been executed in secret after the investigation revealed they had a long history of smuggling gold. According to the source, both officials had been stealing gold from a gold mine in Hoechang County, South Pyongan Province, and illegally selling it to China. At one point, they had teamed up with the member of the donju (North Korea’s wealthy entrepreneurial class) who owned the gold mine to arrange transfer of the gold to a smuggler. The entire scheme came to light when the smuggler was caught by security agents on the border as he was trying to send them into China. ......
[Source: Daily NK]
