State Security Department
The State Security Department of North Korea or the Ministry of State Security is an autonomous agency of the North Korean government reporting directly to the Supreme Leader. It was established in 1973 and serves as the secret police of North Korea. It also is involved in the operation of North Korea's concentration camps and various other hidden activities. By nearly all accounts, it is one of the most brutal secret police forces in the world, and has been involved in numerous human rights abuses.
It is one of two agencies which provides security or protection to North Korean officials and VIPs alongside the Guard Command.
Famous quotes containing the words state, security and/or department:
“Adjoining a refreshment stand ... is a small frame ice house ... with a whitewashed advertisement on its brown front stating, simply, “Ice. Glory to Jesus.” The proprietor of the establishment is a religious man who has seized the opportunity to broadcast his business and his faith at the same time.”
—For the State of New Jersey, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“It is hard for those who have never known persecution,
And who have never known a Christian,
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It is hard for those who live near a Bank
To doubt the security of their money.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
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—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)