Officers are pilfering rice and replacing it with corn to maintain total weight, with one family preparing several tons of corn each autumn specifically for this scheme.

By Seon Hwa 

As officers from the logistics departments of government agencies begin collecting grain, they are profiteering by tampering with the ratio of rice received, as they have done in previous years. In particular, amid soaring market rice prices, logistics officers are enjoying a “golden time” as they can profit even more.

“With not only the military, but other agencies such as the Ministry of Social Security and Ministry of State Security now engaged in large-scale efforts to collect food, logistics officers are even more corrupt,” a Daily NK source in South Hwanghae province said recently. “People here even say that logistics officers have never had it as good as this year.”

According to the source, workplace units are graded, and grain ratios differ for each grade. Top-grade units collect their grain entirely in rice, while lower-graded units collect grain in rice-to-corn ratios of eight to two, seven to three, six to four and so on.

The problem is that units stay true to this ranking system only during the collection stage. In fact, because the only thing that matters is the total amount of grain collected, logistics officers pilfer rice during the collection process and replace it with mixed grains to make up the weight.

Three-fold price gap creates “golden time” for corruption

For example, if a particular unit collected 10 tons of grain in a seven-to-three ratio, the logistics officers could pilfer three of the seven tons of rice, replacing one ton of that with three tons of mixed grains to make up the weight, without raising suspicion. The logistics officers could then take two tons of rice for themselves and even pocket the remaining profit from changing the other ton into mixed grain.

The family of one logistics officer in Haeju, South Hwanghae province, visits Pyoksong and Kangnyong counties every autumn to prepare several tons of corn. This provides the cereal necessary when, during the grain collection process, they pilfer the rice and replace it with corn.

Although this sort of corruption is nothing new, logistics officers consider this year a golden time because rice is now more than three times as expensive as mixed grain.

“Since you can pilfer the rice and simply replace it with mixed grain, logistics officers really have it good,” the source said. “In the past, only logistics officers kept a cut, but nowadays they share it with other leaders in their work unit for fear of getting in trouble, strengthening the network of corruption.”

Ultimately, even within the work unit, the most powerful officials profit immensely from the rice or eat it themselves, while the powerless people at the bottom receive worse rations with mixed grain instead of the rice they were supposed to get. Given that rice is both a staple and the preferred food in North Korea, the people at the bottom feel an even greater sense of loss.

“Many logistics officers or officials personally profit by making use of this time, but the people under them have no opportunity to benefit,” the source said. “As people manipulate the grain ratio set by the state at the collection stage, inequalities are arising in the rations people actually receive.”

Published Date: November 20, 2025