The communist regime in North Korea reportedly executed three officials last week on charges of treason after they allegedly stole some of the country’s emergency food supplies.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports that three officials, all of whom were high ranking, were executed without trial after they were caught stealing the country’s strategic food supply and selling it on the open market, thus benefitting from the skyrocketing prices caused by the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

According to sources who spoke with the outlet, the supplies were sent by China as part of a large emergency shipment between the two regimes. The food that was stolen was reportedly of high quality and had been intended for consumption during celebrations for the upcoming birthday of the country’s communist founder Kim Il-sung, otherwise known as the “Day of the Sun.”

One of the sources, a trader who in North Pyongan province, revealed that the regime temporarily reopened the Dandong-Sinuiju customs office last month to accept the emergency shipment, after it had been closed down since January.

“Even with the coronavirus going on, they opened up [the customs office] and quickly brought those supplies in,” they said. “Three executives stole [some] of these imported strategic supplies on the local market and were shot dead without a trial a few days ago on charges of treason.”

The same source explained in detail how the incident occurred:

About 10 trucks and freight cars came through [from China] with the strategic supplies, food for the big wigs to celebrate the Day of the Sun. The supplies were quarantined and disinfected before they entered a logistics warehouse. As they were being separated for distribution in amounts designated by the Central Committee [of the Korean Workers’ Party], a senior official at a food factory bribed one of the logistics officials to receive five tons more soybean oil than what should have been allotted, and sold it in the local markets.

An investigation was allegedly launched into the issue when it was discovered that soybean oil had come from the Chinese shipment:

An investigation was conducted after the Central Committee received a report that all the soybean oil sold in the local markets in North Pyongan were part of those supplies coming from China. The investigation uncovered that the warehouse manager, the supplier that made the delivery and the person receiving the goods had conspired to steal from the strategic supply.

The source added that the execution may well have been ordered by Kim Jong-un himself as the goods were imported by the all-powerful Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

Executions are a regular occurrence in North Korea, particularly for those found guilty of treason. Kim has personally ordered the execution of countless communist officials since seizing power in 2012, most famously including his own uncle and once key policy adviser Jang Song-Thaek.

Due to the secretive nature of the regime, it is impossible to know how severely it has been impacted by the Chinese coronavirus and how many lives have been lost. Due to its proximity to China and poor health care system, it is likely that the impact has been severe.

In a typically brazen fashion, a senior regime health official in North Korea last week insisted that “not one single person” in the country had tested positive for virus despite multiple reports from internal observers that there is a widespread rate of infection and rapidly rising number of fatalities.

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