Dozens of officials in North Korea have been removed from their roles by Kim Jong-un after a drinking spree said to be “utterly contrary” to the rules on discipline
Dozens of officials in North Korea found taking part in a “group drinking spree” are said to have been purged by a very unimpressed Kim Jong-un.
The supreme leader was told about “more than 40 officials” in Onchon County, 30 miles west of Pyongyang, and in Usi County, near the Chinese border, who were said to have breached strict rules. The spree is described as a “a reckless act unheard of in the history of our party”, according to the Rodong Sinmun, a regime propaganda publication.
The get together was blamed on the party’s local chief, who “personally organised the irregularities”. The report stated: “The group drinking spree openly committed in Onchon County is an act utterly contrary to the party’s line on building discipline.
“[This was] a grave crime of violating party discipline, and moral and cultural order, and an open denial of our party’s line of building discipline. Party officials at all levels should not lead an indolent and careless life like being treated to drinking bouts at public service facilities.”
In Onchon County it was decreed the local party would be dissolved, and a “strict proposal” was announced for the wrongdoers. The Usi County party was similarly dissolved, while the “ringleaders and those involved in the hideous criminal case” now face “investigation by law”.
Kim Joo-il, a North Korean defector now living in London, described how there is “a very widespread drinking culture” in his former homeland. He said: “Alcohol is produced in factories, but ordinary people also make it at home to solve the food shortage.
“For example, if you have a kilogram of corn, instead of just using it as food, you make alcohol yourself and exchange it for food. Then, one kilogram of corn will grow to two or three.
“So the people also make alcohol fanatically in order to survive. Because of this social phenomenon, alcohol is easily accessible in North Korean society.”
Last month, Kim Jong Un told his citizens to provide 1,100 lbs of human “dung” for the spring planting season – three times what the average person produces yearly. Now waste is being traded on the black market and people have been seriously injured fighting over stocks of the human compost.
Kim has banned the internet, various hairstyles, microwaves, hot dogs and any TV shows featuring Alan Titchmarsh in denim jeans. Desperate citizens have even been trying to pinch poo from public loos and bathhouses to meet their quotas. According to Radio Free Asia: “In order to avoid punishment, adults have until January 20 to donate 1,100lbs of compost, which is a code word for faeces. Elementary, middle, and high school students’ quota is 440lbs.”
