Competition between North Korean Elites over Jang’s Treasure

Following the sudden arrest and execution of Jang Song Taek as a result of a bloody fight among North Korea’s leadership over rights and interests, North Korean elites are now climbing over each other to pledge their allegiance to Kim Jong Un as they compete to grab Jang’s secret funds, foreign currency stashes and control over organizations tasked with earning foreign currency, according to a NKIS source in Sinuiju.

Kim Jong Un is said to have benefited the most from Jang’s purge because he has become the sole recipient of a one million dollar slush fund formerly managed by his uncle. Sometime in 2010, Jang and Lee Su Yong received orders from Kim Jong Il to sell North Korea’s most prized sources of foreign currency and establish a slush fund for the leader. The fact that most of this money was being held in a secret safe at a Shanghai-based bank has turned out to be an open secret among the Pyongyang elite. After Kim Jong Un came to power he tried several times to use these funds, but faced opposition from his uncle. Jang reportedly refused to let the younger Kim access the funds, saying they were needed for something important. This ostensibly sparked resentment by Kim towards his uncle. After Jang was purged, Kim Jong Un quickly ordered Yun Sae Hyung, the chief of the Central Party’s Finances and Accounting Department’s “Department 9,” to head to Shanghai and withdraw the funds from Jang’s secret safe.

Kim Jong Un now intends to place the 54 Department (the Gangsong Trade Company), which Jang took away from Lee Young Ho, under the control of the National Defense Committee. However, Chae Ryong Hae has also submitted a proposal to Kim to place the 54 Department under the purview of the Supreme Command to allow him to obtain the foreign currency needed to modernize the country’s military equipment. Currently, it is unclear what part of the regime will take over the department.

The “Haedanghwa Organization,” led by Jang and tasked with overseeing the restaurants and accommodations spread throughout China’s major cities, was ordered by Kim to fall under the management of the Central Party’s Office 38. However, Kim Jong Un’s younger sister Kim Yeo Jeong, who is in charge of the Central Party’s Finances and Accounting Department’s Gyeongheung Guidance Department, has expressed her desire to take control of the operation, so there is a high possibility it will fall under her command.

Kim Jong Un has given Office 39, which has control of the Korean Workers’ Party’s foreign currency earning operations, the right to manage Koryo Link, Chosun Fuel Company, and the Rason area’s casinos and joint ventures managed by the Special Zone Development Department. All of these ventures were previously under the control of Jang’s Party Administration Department under the pretext they required guidance from the Party. Kim is reportedly reorganizing the command structure of these organizations to make sure the money earned is placed in his own coffers.

All areas of North Korea’s foreign currency earning operations formerly managed by Jang are said to be in a state of extreme confusion as they face inspection and central figures of the military, Party, and cabinet compete to submit proposals to Kim Jong Un to grab what they can.

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“Jang has been on Kim’s radar longer than his reign“

Sudden execution of Jang Seong-taek seems to bring a backfire which disturbs the whole society. Rumors about the reason why Jang had to be executed are reproduced and circulated in a level which is out of regime’s control, which agitate the whole public who cannot fully understand the situation.

“What people generally agree is that Kim Jong-un had to get rid of Jang in order to secure the money he had controlled,” said FNKR’s exclusive source at Pyongyang. “Right after Jang was executed, people started to talk about his secret fund which was allegedly worth twice than the whole country’s wealth combined. Now high-level officials of the Party enthusiastically look for the way to take charge of foreign trade companies which used to be under Jang’s control.”According to the source, the purge on Jang Seong-taek was not decided abruptly; “Kim actually acquired intelligence that Jang Seong-taek owned a secret account in Shanghai Bank with more than 1.4 billion dollar balance back in 2010. At that time his father, Kim Jong-il was still alive so he could not take any kinds of action, but as soon as he ascended the regime, he took very careful steps to expel Jang. That is why the officials rumored that Kim executed Jang because he refused Kim’s request to use the money he accumulated in China.”

In fact ‘Gangseong General Trade Company’ which was the front base of smuggling with China and even Japan and famous for affiliated with Jang fell into Kim’s hand, and it was said that their asset was 200 times bigger than ordinary trade company.

The source said “as most of trade companies based in North Korea found new owner, the regime is now thinking over about those based in overseas; it is known that Kim Yeo-jung, the sister of Kim Jong-un would take charge of ‘Haedanghwa’, the company running restaurants and accomodations in China from now on.”

“In other companies such as ‘Chosun Petroleum Trading Company’, ‘Koryo Link’, and ‘Naseon Casino’ which all had been controlled by Jang, the executives were interrogated for more than 20 days and released after they offered all the assets and pledged allegiance to the regime. All of their business had to be stopped during the investigation which caused a drop in rice import, so the price of rice in the market skyrocketed. People complained that ‘this country has never thought seriously about the life of citizens,” said the source.

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