Kim Jong-un’non-financial management’ North Korean defector “North Korean elite, hate Kim Jong-un”

-A North Korean defector who was an executive in the 39th Labor Party, who manages the slush funds of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s family, testified that North Korea was hit hard by strong international sanctions against North Korea, and that some of the North Korean elites were against him.

Lee Jung-ho, a former high-ranking executive of Labor Party Room 39 and currently living in exile in the United States, said in an interview with the Voice of the United States (VOA) on the 10th, “The UN sanctions adopted in 2017 are unprecedented sanctions in history, and a devastating blow to the North Korean leadership. I gave him.”

North Korea’s exports of minerals, textiles, and aquatic products, as well as the labor market and North Korea’s imports of crude oil, etc., were cut off, so that the exports of North Korea in 2019 fell sharply to one-twelfth of 2016, and this year, worsening, to one-65th. I did it.

He said, “With sanctions against North Korea over the past three years, the North Korean economy has worsened than during the hard march in the 1990s.” “Pyongyang residents and executives ran out of money due to sanctions, which drastically reduced consumption. Inflation has increased several times,” he said. “The provinces also faced the worst in the aftermath of sanctions.” However, “the atmosphere of dialogue was created and the initial strong sanctions and pressures weakened over time.” It has been smuggling coal and the labor market remains the same.” In addition, he added, “IT experts are also making money through the’outsourcing’ (consignment processing) method, and they also avoid sanctions through product processing.” He added, “To block the market rather than sanctioning North Korea (China and Russia) Companies, etc.) third-party sanctions are 100 times more effective.”

“The North Korean elite always feels anxiety and threats,” said Lee. “Some people have an antipathy towards the dictator (Kim Jong-un).”

He said, “If you express that (half feeling),’the three generations are extinct,’ and it is not revealed,” he said. “There is no absolute belief of Chairman Kim in the North Korean executives.”

“They are purgeed and executed, so they are in voshinism,” he said. “The North Korean elite’s exile at the risk of their lives is a sign of protest against the dictator.”

He said, “We need to give the North Korean elites the belief that they will guarantee safety and incentives for the future and support them to lead the transformation of North Korea’s openness and democratization.”

Room 39, belonging to the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, is one of the slush funds that manages Kim Jong-un’s governing funds. It is known to be in charge of North Korea’s foreign currency earning.

Mr. Lee served as the president of the ship trading company of the Daxing General Bureau under Room 39, the head of the trade management bureau, the chairman of the Geumgang Economic Development General Company, and the governor of the Daexing General Company in Dalian, China. After passing through Korea in 2014, he exiled to the United States in 2016.

Kim Jin-ha, reporter of Donga.com [email protected]