Rights in North Korea reports that North Korea operates a "massive, multilevel system of informants", rewarding informers with gifts. That informant network is run by the State Security Department (SSD), which controls at least 50,000 personnel, and the SSD maintains a network of prisons for individual suspected of "holding unacceptable views". The MPS monitors correspondence and telephone conversations. The Organization and Guidance Department of the Workers' Party of Korea is responsible for investigating and spying on senior officials. The Ministry of Social Security, the nation's police agency, is estimated to control nearly 140,000 - 210,000 public security personnel. The current total number of informers for the police is estimated at 200,000 to 300,000, with many more having collaborated in the past. The Military Security Command of the Korean People's Army (KPA), the country's armed forces, is tasked with monitoring "the activities and political loyalties of military commanders and other KPA officers" and "identifying anyone seen as disloyal". The MSC became more prominent in the mid-90s, when there began a rapid increase in defections. Since all North Koreans are generally expected to be employed at a state place of work, surveillance also takes place at work. In the 2010s Over a span of four years, the government purchased about 100,000 closed-circuit television cameras. Ri Yong-ho, who held the post of Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, was 'purged' after he was reportedly recorded on wiretap complaining about Kim Jong-un. See also Censorship in North Korea Human rights in North Korea Inminban Internet in North Korea North Korean postal service Telecommunications in North Korea Kwangmyong (network) References Works cited Further reading North Korea Society of North Korea Human rights abuses in North Korea