Office #39: Here Today, Censored Tomorrow

Deputy (Vice) Director of Office #39, Jon Il Chun, attending one of Kim Jong Il's visits in February, 2010. (Photo: KCNA)

The PRC press seems to have treated Office #39 (Room 39; Third Floor) as the kind of front company 39 controls: here today, and gone tomorrow.  KBS reported yesterday that The People’s Daily published an online story that listed Office #39 as “fourth among the world world’s ten most restricted areas.”  It was also identified as “the key political economic dyansty” in the DPRK.  After KBS report appeared, the article was unavailable.  KBS reports:

The People’s Daily of China says North Korea’s top-secret Bureau 39 is the key political and economic organization of the dynasty in the North.

The official newspaper of the Communist Party of China made the statement in its online edition Wednesday, saying that the Bureau 39 building of the North’s Workers’ Party of Korea ranks fourth among the world’s top ten most restricted areas.

The report added that the bureau has set up ten to 20 accounts in China and Switzerland and has been engaged in illegal activities, including counterfeiting and money laundering.

According to the report, it has been confirmed that the bureau has been involved in drug smuggling and illegal dealings of weapons.

The report, however, was taken off the Internet after it was covered by KBS.