The_Deepening_Group_Incident

Deepening Group Incident

Deepening Group Incident

Purge in North Korea

The Deepening Group Incident (Korean: 심화조사건; RR: Simhwajo Sageon) refers to a large-scale purge campaign within the Democratic People's Republic of Korea which took place during the period of 1996 to 2000. Kim Jong Il used a purging strategy in an attempt to evade his government's responsibility for the Great Famine.[1] In this purge, high level party officials and their families and others throughout the country were executed or sent to concentration camps, via a widespread secret police organisation, "Shimhwajo" (심화조).

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The purge had its roots in the great famine and economic crisis of approximately[2] 1994 to 1998, during which hundreds of thousands to possibly two million people died of starvation (a famine referred to officially as The Arduous March, 고난의 행군).

Kim Jong Il, who in 1994 had become the supreme leader, established a secret police organization called "Shimhwajo" (심화조) or the "Deepening Group" within the Ministry of Social Security. (Shimhwajo had the meaning of intensifying the investigation into the careers and ideology of residents, or "in-depth research into the backgrounds and thoughts of residents") Kim Jong Il appointed Jang Sung-taek (then deputy director of the Organization and Guidance Department), to lead the group,[3] which then carried out a great purge by making the senior officials, close aides, and their relatives the scapegoat for the economic crisis and famine.[3]

Some 25,000 people are thought to have been purged of whom approximately 10,000 were executed, and about 15,000 sent to concentration camps.[3] Amongst high ranking party-members and bureaucrats found responsible were Seo Kwan-hee, agricultural secretary of the Central Committee of the Party (executed by firing squad,[4][5] and Moon Seong-sik, the party secretary (said to have been tortured to death).[3][6] Senior officials from the Kim Il Sung era were sacrificed one after another. In the southwest, Hwanghae Namdo party secretary, Pi Chang-rin and Kaesong city party secretary Kim Gi-sun were executed as remnants of the South Korean anti-communist group, and the Northwestern Youth League.[7] Kim Jong Il unconditionally signed the list of executions put up by the deepening group.[7]

In 1998, due to the incidents that occurred at the Hwanghae Steel Works in South Hwanghae Province, Kim Jong Il is said to have feared alienation from the public,[8][7] and started an investigation into Shimhwajo, leading to its dismantlement (in this form) in 2000 and to further purges.[7]

During the process, the Shimhwajo had several hundred bases all around North Korea and consisted of about 8,000 investigators.

References

  1. [1]
    Taekbin Kim (1 September 2021). "Who Is Purged? Determinants of Elite Purges in North Korea" (PDF). Communist and Post-Communist Studies. 54 (3): 73–96. doi:10.1525/J.POSTCOMSTUD.2021.54.3.73. ISSN 0967-067X. Wikidata Q117267389.
  2. [2]
    Noland, Marcus (2004). "Famine and Reform in North Korea" (PDF). Asian Economic Papers. 3 (2): 1–40. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.6.8390. doi:10.1162/1535351044193411. S2CID 57565869.
  3. [3]
    "【朝鮮半島ウオッチ】金正恩氏の後見人、張成沢氏は冷血な忠臣 ２万５千人粛清の総責任者！＋（2/3ページ）" [Kim Jong-un's guardian, Mr. Jang Sung-taek, is a cold-blooded loyal retainer who is responsible for the purge of 25,000 people!]. MSN産経ニュース. 14 January 2012. Archived from the original on 14 January 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  4. [4]
    Floru, J.P. (2017). The Sun Tyrant: A Nightmare Called North Korea. London, U.K.: Biteback Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 9781785902215. OCLC 984074543. When the size of the catastrophe he had caused became apparent, Kim Jong-il had his agricultural minister So Kwan-hui executed by firing squad. So was accused of being a spy for 'the American imperialists and their South Korean lackeys' and of having sabotaged North Korea's self-reliance in agriculture.
  5. [5]
    Jong-yil, Ra (1 May 2019). Inside North Korea's Theocracy: The Rise and Sudden Fall of Jang Song-thaek. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-7373-4.
  6. [6]
    "「下剤を飲ませ水を一滴も与えず政敵を抹殺」北朝鮮の権力闘争（高英起） - 個人" [Drink laxatives and eliminate political opponents without giving a drop of water North Korea's power struggle]. Yahoo!ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  7. [7]
    SANKEI DIGITAL INC (4 April 2016). "【秘録金正日（６０）】黄長ヨプ亡命の衝撃 デモにおびえ、摘発責任者を処刑（1/5ページ）" [Shock of Hwang Jang-yeop's exile Fear of demonstrations, execution of the person responsible for the detection]. Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  8. [8]
    "抗議する労働者を戦車で轢殺…北朝鮮「黄海製鉄所の虐殺」" [Tanks run over protesting workers... North Korea "massacre at Hwanghae Steelworks"]. DAILY NK JAPAN (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 March 2023.
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