LABOR MOBILIZATION OFFICE IN NORTH KOREA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R013400040009-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 6, 2006
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: August 20, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2006/04/20 : CIA-RDP82-00457RO13400040009-4
`? OFAX 29
FEB 1952 51-4AA
1. In April 1952 the North Korean Central Urban Trestl business office (Pak Chosan
Chungang Tosi Treat Sa6p So) (0554/2600/7639/0022/1135/6757/1579/Treat/0057/
2814/2076), with headquarters in P'yangyang, was under the jurisdiction of the
North Korean Supreme Military Committee acting through the North Korean Ministry
of Industry. The Treat was mobilizing laborers, 'technicians, and mechanics for
the construction of public works, defense installations, and underground
shelters accorded building priority by the North Korean government. This office
handled the payment of workers' salaries, procured supplies, and-transported
laborers to the construction sites.
INFORMATION REPORT REPORT NO.
COUNTRY Korea
25X1
DATE DISTR. 20 Aug. 1952
SUBJECT Labor Mobilization Office in North Korea NO. OF PAGES 2
DATE OF
INFO.
PLACE
ACQUIRED
25X1
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES, WITHIN THE WEANING OF TITLE 18, SECTIONS 793
AND 794, OF THE U.S. CODE, AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR REVE-
LATION OF ITSCONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT BY AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS
PROHIBITED BY LAW. THE REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM IS PROHIBITED.
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO. 25X1
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
25X1
CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL
SECURITY INFORMATION
Branch offices of the syndicate throughout North Korea were recruiting men and
women between the ages of 17 and 50, sometimes forcibly, for the rehabilitation
program. Generally, recruitment was not difficult. because of the large number
of persons seeking employment. Persons once recruited had great difficulty
in leaving their jobs. The daily wage of common laborers, 30 North Korean won,
was scarcely equivalent to'the price of the daily ration of 4 hop of rice or
cereal and-vegatables..
South Koreans of military conscription age who had retreated with the North
Koreans in September 1950 were being mobilized for this work by the syndicate.
4. In April the syndicate's P'yangyang office was providing manpower for under-
ground structures atKoin-long (126-23, 40-30) (BU-7886), 6in~iju, and Kuscng
(125..15, 39-59) (XE.9228). The underground factory at Kuspng, on the south
bank of the Tepamdae-River, which runs in an east-west direction immediately
south of Kuson.g, had entrances through a former Japanese flax plant on the
northern slope of a mountain.2 The former flax plant had a gray-slate roof
and three cement chimneys each 40 meters high and one cement chimney 15 meters
high. After construction was authorized i?n February 1952 the Pyongyang office
CONFIDENTIAL
Approved For Release 2006/04/20 : CIA-RDP82-00457RO13400040009-4
 25X1
Approved For Release 2006/04/20 : CIA-RDP82-00457R013400040009-4
CONFIDENTIAL
dispated five teams of approximately 450 laborers each to the three areas,
`omment. Presumably trust or syndicate and reported
as a ussian word.
omment, Possibly Hill 169, Sheet 6233 I, AMS L751a
25X1
Approved For Release 2006/04/20 : CIA-RDP82-00457R013400040009-4