Commanders of North Korea’s elite 91 Metropolitan Defense Corps were caught embezzling funds collected from soldiers and their families for modernizing and renovating base facilities, according to a recent defense ministry inspection.
The Ministry of Defense’s inspection bureau found that commanders of the unit responsible for defending Pyongyang had misappropriated a large amount of money collected to improve soldiers’ living conditions and spent it on themselves, a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK recently. The inspection took place in mid-January during a review of logistics and morale at military units stationed near the capital.
The 91 Metropolitan Defense Corps had organized fundraising committees in each of its constituent battalions and companies with the goal of modernizing the Kim Il Sung-Kim Jong Il-ism Study Room and renovating soldiers’ barracks to provide better heating.
But inspectors found that more than half of the funds collected from soldiers and their family members over the past five years had vanished without a paper trail and that less than 10% of the amount had been used for its original purpose, according to the source. The funds were ostensibly collected to renovate the study room and barracks.
Lavish meals while soldiers shivered
While the defense ministry has repeatedly warned commanders not to treat these funds as a “personal piggy bank,” commanders in the field have generally disregarded those orders.
During the bureau’s review, inspectors turned up ledgers showing that a substantial portion of the collected funds had been spent on entertaining and rewarding the commanders—expenditures that had little, if anything, to do with renovating base facilities.
At some units in the 91 Metropolitan Defense Corps, money earmarked for fixing the barracks heating issue was instead spent on entertaining commanders at fancy restaurants and buying imported goods for personal use. The ledgers also listed expenditures under vague names such as “incentives” and “meal expenses,” in violation of the accounting principle of recording exactly how funds are used.
Meanwhile, chilly air continued to blow through cracks in the barracks windows, and scuffed desks at the study room have yet to be replaced.
The revelation about the misappropriated funding has provoked anger and dismay among the enlisted men.
“One soldier complained that the commanders were treating themselves to fancy meals with his parents’ donations while he was shivering in an unheated barracks,” the source said. “Another was incensed that the commanders were stuffing their mouths while the soldiers were risking their lives to defend the Marshal (Kim Jong Un). Some of the criticism has gotten quite vulgar.”
“This probe has basically confirmed that the 91 Metropolitan Defense Corps, which has enjoyed all kinds of funding given its role in the defense of Pyongyang, is rotten to the core,” the source added. “The Central Committee views the incident with grave concern.”
But so far, there are no reports of anybody being punished over the affair.
A Note to Readers
Daily NK operates networks of sources inside North Korea who document events in real-time and transmit information through secure channels. Unlike reporting based on state media, satellite imagery, or defector accounts from years past, our journalism comes directly from people currently living under the regime.
We verify reports through multiple independent sources and cross-reference details before publication. Our sources remain anonymous because contact with foreign media is treated as a capital offense in North Korea—discovery means imprisonment or execution.
This network-based approach allows Daily NK to report on developments other outlets cannot access: market trends, policy implementation, public sentiment, and daily realities that never appear in official narratives. Maintaining these secure communication channels and protecting source identities requires specialized protocols and constant vigilance.
Daily NK serves as a bridge between North Koreans and the outside world, documenting what’s happening inside one of the world’s most closed societies.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: dailynk.com
