North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is personally overseeing the progress of his signature construction projects as the year draws to a close. During his visits to construction sites, he is consistently accompanied by Kim Jae Ryong, head of the Party’s Discipline Investigation Department, and Kim Yong Soo, head of the Financial Management Department. As of November 27, it has been determined that these officials are tasked with cracking down on various forms of corruption that arise during project implementation.
Rodong Sinmun, the Workers’ Party’s official newspaper, reported on Kim’s on-site inspection of the Sinuiju Greenhouse Complex Farm construction site on November 26. He was accompanied by Party secretaries Jo Yong Won and Park Jong Chun, as well as department heads Kim Jae Ryong and Kim Yong Soo, and Kim Cheol Sam, chief secretary of the North Pyeongan Provincial Committee.
Recently, Kim has been visiting local hospitals and construction sites for greenhouse farms across the country, which are being built under the Local Development 20X10 Policy. With the Workers’ Party plenary meeting scheduled in about two weeks to finalize the year’s assessments, Kim is conducting what the newspaper described as final inspections of construction projects expected to be completed by year’s end. The paper reported that construction of the Sinuiju Greenhouse Complex Farm is about 97 percent complete and entering its final stages.
The consistent presence of the Discipline Investigation Department head at construction sites is considered unusual. The additional presence of the Financial Management Department head suggests widespread corruption in North Korean construction projects, including financial misconduct and officials evading responsibilities.
This analysis is further supported by North Korean media reports on Kim’s September inspection of the construction site for the Pyongyang General Hospital.
On September 23, Kim visited the nearly completed Pyongyang General Hospital, accompanied by department heads Kim Jae Ryong and Kim Yong Soo. During this visit, he said that deficiencies and complexities in the construction process had delayed the project by 1.5 years. He criticized what he described as the vanity of officials who placed their own names above Party policies and pointed to mistakes made by former officials in the Cabinet and the Party’s Organization Guidance Department as major problems.
The Pyongyang General Hospital, which broke ground in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, took five years to complete. Kim directly attributed this delay to official corruption.
He particularly emphasized that financial discipline had been ignored, noting that construction had proceeded without approval of the total budget. He added that unauthorized organizations had been created to conduct nationwide fundraising and support activities, distorting the Party’s intentions. While specific details were not disclosed, his remarks strongly suggested the uncovering of significant financial corruption.
On September 8, Kim brought both department heads to inspect a local hospital construction site in Guseong City, where he pointed out, as he described it, a series of biases in the construction process. Earlier, on June 9, he had visited the same site to criticize what he called a lack of professionalism and immaturity in the construction organization and command.
North Korea has announced plans for a Workers’ Party plenary meeting in mid-December to assess this year’s projects. The meeting is expected to involve significant personnel changes, with corruption-related evidence collected under the leadership of Kim Jae Ryong and Kim Yong Soo likely playing an important role in the decision-making process.