Deepening Group Incident

In the early 1990s, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the economic collapse, North Korea lacked the ability to purchase food and fertilizer. In addition, it suffered from natural disasters from 1994 to 1999, resulting in a sharp decline in food production and causing a nationwide famine from 1994 to 1999. At this time, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il realized that there was a sense of unease in society, and the defection of Hwang Jang-yop, secretary of the Central Secretariat of the Workers' Party of Korea, seemed to confirm this. He believed that he should do something to divert people's attention. At the same time, considering that he had been in power for three years and his power was stable, he intended to eliminate his father Kim Il Sung's subordinates. Kim Jong Il brought in his brother-in-law Jang Song-taek, who was also the Minister of the Central Administrative Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, to take charge of the matter and handed it over to the Ministry of Social Security for execution. The action originated from Seo Kwan-hee, the chairman of the Agricultural Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, and Hwang Kum-suk, the chairman of the management committee of a collective farm. The two were former high-ranking officials of Kim Il Sung, but in 1997 they were publicly on charges of being " spies of American imperialism" and "stealing state property". Subsequently, the Ministry of Social Security declared that "we died because of Su Kwan-hee" and criticized Hwang Kum-suk as a representative of the restoration of the landlord class. == The purge ==

The “Deepening Group Incident” can be divided into two stages. The first stage occurred between 1997 and 1998, and the second stage occurred between 1998 and 2000. During this period, due to personal grudges, they targeted Moon Song-soo, the Party Central Committee Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, and Su Yun-seok, the former Party Central Committee Secretary of Pyongyang, in 1998. According to a defector who had worked in the Ministry of Social Security, Moon Song-soo was a close aide to Kim Jong Il and had a grudge against Jang Song-taek for telling him about his personal misconduct. Su Yun-seok, on the other hand, had a conflict with Chae Mun-deok when he was the director of the Pyongyang Security Bureau because he reported Chae Mun-deok for being "lazy in his studies". In order to settle personal scores, Moon Song-soo and Su Yun-seok were tortured by electric shocks, ice torture, and having their fingernails and toenails pulled out during the investigation. This caused Su Yun-seok to become mentally unstable, and Moon Song-soo committed suicide as a result. Kim Jong Il unconditionally signed the list of executions put up by the deepening group. == Conclusion ==

Soon after the news of Moon Sung-seok's suicide reached Kim Jong Il's ears, coupled with the serious protests that broke out in Songrim City, North Hwanghae Province, due to the dissatisfaction of the Hwanghae Steel Complex employees with the lack of rations and the tyranny of the judicial authorities, he was quite shocked. In order to quell the incident, Kim Jong Il subsequently sent personnel from the "4th Section of the Central Committee's Guidance Department" to investigate the Ministry of Social Security. As a result, the investigators found that the "Deepening Group" used torture and intimidation to force the suspects to confess. The investigators also pointed out the negative impact of the Deepening Group's actions on public sentiment in the investigation report submitted to Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Il then blamed Cai Wende, claiming that he had impersonated him. Soon after, Cai Wende was imprisoned in the Yodok concentration camp. Kim Jong Il also stripped Cai Wende, Yun Guizhu, and Choi Deok-sung of their hero titles. Most of the senior officials of the Social Security Department in charge of the Deepening Group, including Ri Chol, Hwang Yun-moo, Kim Un-chol, An Yong-guk, Yun Guizhu, and Choi Deok-sung, were listed as counter-revolutionaries and executed. Hwang Yun-moo, the chief of staff of the Security Department, was accused of counter-revolutionary crimes for criticizing the Workers' Party (the charges were later cleared during the investigation) and was involved in the Deepening Group. He died from injuries sustained during interrogation. The Deepening Group was disbanded, and an investigation team composed of the Korean People's Army Security Command, the State Security Department, and the Central Procuratorate was formed to deal with the Deepening Group's problems throughout North Korea. Of the more than 8,000 members involved in the Deepening Group, more than 6,000 were dismissed, imprisoned, or even executed. == Aftermath ==

To appease the victims and their families in this incident, Kim Jong Il met with them and the government hosted a banquet for them at well-known Pyongyang hotels such as Okryu-gwan. Kim Jong Il characterized the incident as members of the "Deepening Group" being "blinded by power, sowing discord between the Party and the people, and even using methods of torture more vicious than those of the Japanese colonizers". He also ordered the Ministry of Social Security to be renamed the Ministry of People's Security. == References ==