DPRK Police Force.

[Optiow]

Hey guys.

I am beginning a study on the police's role in a communist society (both past and present), and it would be best to start with the most difficult one first. I believe this to be the DPRK. Due to the DPRK being so secluded and secretive, it is difficult to obtain even basic information, such as the average strength and even their aims and goals.

I have already contacted many DPRK supporters about this topic, but I have recieved no replies yet. And because I do not want to leave out North Korea, I am asking you guys. I have tried internet searches and I have sifted through a lot of Kim Jong speeches about the DPRK police, but I have come up with nothing except brief mentions of the force, and hints of riots that have been put down here and there - but ultimately I have nothing solid to go on. Every time I think I have something in internet searches, I get more useless information about the NK army.

So I am asking you guys if you know any sources at all that will be helpful in this topic, and where I could find them. Obviously it will not be as easy as a quick look on Wikipedia, but if you can help me with any sites or books or texts then I would be very grateful. I plan on publishing the information I gather for the education of other socialists online, and what the police role is in these societies compared to other socities police forces.

Thank you.

[Enragé]

if you call countries like DPRK communist then the role of the police in 'communist society' is exactly the same as it is in capitalist society.

not to be a *****, but yea.

[punisa]

Why not try these folks? Juche Idea Study Group of England
http://www.korea-dpr.com/users/jisge/

Since you're studying a vast area of police in socialism, I can give you an example from Yugoslavia.
Already familiarized yourself with the term Militsiya I presume?

They acted like regular police, but they were far more tougher. Nowadays police must be more careful as to what they do (in Europe at least).
Back then they answered to nobody, but to communist party alone.
Still... the good old days

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

What are you looking for exactly? The specific duties of the police in the DPRK or their social role as a group?

[Jazzhands]

It's a curious thing. You never hear about regular police forces in these countries, only the secret police, state security agencies, and army. How many people know what the USSR had for regular cops?

[scarletghoul]

One very interesting paragraph in the NLG report mentions the police, or the absence of them-

Another surprise was the absence of a police presence throughout the country. We never saw a single policeman with a gun or even a club. The only police we saw were police officers, mainly women, directing traffic at certain intersections. There were occasional guard stations along the road down south as we approached the DMZ. We saw soldiers in many places, usually helping harvest crops or working in the fields or helping on a construction site. But we rarely saw a soldier armed. The contrast between North Korea and its lack of policemen and North America in which armed police in bulletproof vests are commonplace was more than striking - it was startling. If the presence or absence of armed policemen is a criterion for a free society then this speaks volumes about the nature of the two societies.

http://www.nlg.org/korea/2003delegation_report.html

[Optiow]

if you call countries like DPRK communist then the role of the police in 'communist society' is exactly the same as it is in capitalist society.

not to be a *****, but yea.

Well they are 'officially' communist. Obviously they are not true commies, but I am going with that for this research.

Why not try these folks? Juche Idea Study Group of England

Since you're studying a vast area of police in socialism, I can give you an example from Yugoslavia.
Already familiarized yourself with the term Militsiya I presume?

They acted like regular police, but they were far more tougher. Nowadays police must be more careful as to what they do (in Europe at least).
Back then they answered to nobody, but to communist party alone.
Still... the good old days

Thanks for the link
~I have indeed heard of them. You are correct in saying police must be a lot more careful these days. It is across the board.

What are you looking for exactly? The specific duties of the police in the DPRK or their social role as a group?

I am just looking for their role as policemen in the DPRK. Just what they do, how they do it, their difficulties, their successes etc.

It's a curious thing. You never hear about regular police forces in these countries, only the secret police, state security agencies, and army. How many people know what the USSR had for regular cops?

Exactly. And that annoys me, as there must have been hundreds of thousands of police in the USSR.

One very interesting paragraph in the NLG report mentions the police, or the absence of them-

Thanks for the info. That is quite interesting actually...

[Chimurenga.]

One very interesting paragraph in the NLG report mentions the police, or the absence of them-
http://www.nlg.org/korea/2003delegation_report.html

But they're still TOTALITARIAN!!

[Adil3tr]

That's like looking up nazi german summer camps. Do the North Koreans even have normal police?

[Wanted Man]

That's like looking up nazi german summer camps. Do the North Koreans even have normal police?

Aye, fuck them. They should employ more frustrated fat pricks who shoot people of colour on railway stations, and then let them get off scot-free. You know, like normal police in the free world.

[bricolage]

One very interesting paragraph in the NLG report mentions the police, or the absence of them-
http://www.nlg.org/korea/2003delegation_report.html

Perhaps an interesting parallel there is the Gestapo. It was commonly assumed that they were an omnipotent, ever present force, with agents on every street corner spying on your every move. In actual fact the ratio of Gestapo agents to members of the population was extremely low yet the idea of them as everywhere propogated because a) they did arrest people but did so using civilian denunciations and b) the myth itself was enough to lead people away from anti-nazi thought or action, in this respect the Gestapo was in many was ubiquitous because it was ubiquitously self-internalised.

I'm not trying to make a straight out 'North Korea=Third Reich' argument here which obviously would make no sense just suggesting the absence of police doesn't necessarily indicate the lack of police state.
Personally I don't know that much about North Korea but I think it's a potential explanation.

[Ele'ill]

Aye, fuck them. They should employ more frustrated fat pricks who shoot people of colour on railway stations, and then let them get off scot-free. You know, like normal police in the free world.

He didn't get off free- he got involuntary manslaughter.

I think it's bullshit too but let's be honest and not drop to the level of sensationalism.

Unless I missed it some how and the bargaining position of 'involuntary manslaughter' actually worked and he got off free of all charges.

[Yazman]

Remember to keep it civil guys. I know this is a somewhat controversial topic but just remember, we're all comrades here. Or at least we should be

[Wanted Man]

Perhaps an interesting parallel there is the Gestapo. It was commonly assumed that they were an omnipotent, ever present force, with agents on every street corner spying on your every move. In actual fact the ratio of Gestapo agents to members of the population was extremely low yet the idea of them as everywhere propogated because a) they did arrest people but did so using civilian denunciations and b) the myth itself was enough to lead people away from anti-nazi thought or action, in this respect the Gestapo was in many was ubiquitous because it was ubiquitously self-internalised.

I'm not trying to make a straight out 'North Korea=Third Reich' argument here which obviously would make no sense just suggesting the absence of police doesn't necessarily indicate the lack of police state.
Personally I don't know that much about North Korea but I think it's a potential explanation.

"I'm not going to say it; I'm just going to heavily imply it." Okay.

He didn't get off free- he got involuntary manslaughter.

I think it's bullshit too but let's be honest and not drop to the level of sensationalism.

Unless I missed it some how and the bargaining position of 'involuntary manslaughter' actually worked and he got off free of all charges.

You're right. I was thinking of two cases at the same time, the other one being the death of Ian Tomlinson in Britain. That's a better example, because nobody was prosecuted for that at all.

[bricolage]

"I'm not going to say it; I'm just going to heavily imply it." Okay.

Thanks for ignoring my point.
I'm sure a similar policing system has existed in many other countries that I don't know about, the Gestapo is just an example I do.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Thanks for ignoring my point.
I'm sure a similar policing system has existed in many other countries that I don't know about, the Gestapo is just an example I do.

Every country that has had a secret police has used that model, most likely. (i.e. used a relatively small, marginal force to keep a population subservient and paranoid.)

[The Author]

I'll give an example of police activity: police checkpoints at museums. Police checkpoints at subway stations. Police riding in cars. Police riding in motorcycles. Police on bicycles. Then there is the surveillance of every single street corner, shop, subway or train station or bus stop or airport with cameras and checkpoints there as well. All of this at the same time in the same city and in the adjacent suburbs and countryside.

Okay, so I listed numerous examples of what to expect in a "police state." Will you find any of this in the DPRK? No. You won't find it in Cuba, either. Come to think if it, the Socialist Bloc as it was never had surveillance of this type, either. Freedom really was free.

Will you find these things in the "Free World?"

Absolutely.

Makes me laugh when people label places as "police states." Look to thine own ass first.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I like how some people laud "freedom" when it fits nicely into their preconcieved notions, but shrug it off as a bourgeois indulgence when it doesn't.

I'm sure that Iranians circa 1977 thought that they had freedom of expression, simply because there wasn't a cop on every corner and survelliance cameras everywhere.

[scarletghoul]

He didn't get off free- he got involuntary manslaughter.

I think it's bullshit too but let's be honest and not drop to the level of sensationalism.

Unless I missed it some how and the bargaining position of 'involuntary manslaughter' actually worked and he got off free of all charges.

That's just one example though, and in that case there was so much evidence, proof even, of murder. In most other cases of police murder the pig gets off free. This was an exception because there was so much public outrage and blatant proof.

[M-26-7]

Thanks for ignoring my point.
I'm sure a similar policing system has existed in many other countries that I don't know about, the Gestapo is just an example I do.

But you didn't really have a point. You yourself admitted that you "don't know that much about North Korea." Going off about the Gestapo was begging the question as to what kind of society North Korea is (implying and/or assuming that it operates much like Nazi Germany).