Mick Hartley

The life of a North Korean stationmaster:

The North Korean Ministry of State Security has recently informed senior officials at provincial bureaus about the punishment given to people arrested in connection with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s visit to Russia last September, Daily NK has learned….

According to the material, the stationmasters at four stations on the railroad that Kim Jong Un rode on in North Hamgyong Province and South Hamgyong Province on his way to Russia were arrested on the spot for failing to demonstrate their loyalty to the North Korean leader.

The stationmasters were quietly executed or sent to political prison camps on Apr. 12, seven months after their arrest, in line with the Central Committee and the Ministry of State Security’s internal decision that the legal procedures should be completed before the Day of the Sun (Apr. 15, birthday of Kim Il Sung).

“Two of the stationmasters were arrested and executed in private for failing to be in the proper spot when the Marshal’s [Kim Jong Un] train passed by. The other two stationmasters were arrested and sent to political prison camps after the Marshal raised concerns about the dilapidated state of the railroad and surrounding areas while riding on the train,” the source said.

The classified material from the Ministry of State Security also said that the stationmasters’ families were notified of their fate and then whisked away by local state security departments early in the morning on Apr. 13….

The Ministry of State Security asked its bureaus in each province to diligently fulfill their duty of maintaining ongoing supervision and oversight to safeguard the government and preserve the physical safety of Kim Jong Un.

The ministry also reminded bureau officials that the position of the party and the government is that anyone subject to Kim’s personal criticism should be targeted and investigated without mercy, the source said.