Ahead of rare North Korea Congress, money trumps Party for most

Seo Jae-pyoung, the secretary general of the association of the North Korean defectors, poses for a photograph while demonstrating the use of a Workers' Party membership card holder during an interview with Reuters in Seoul, South Korea, April 22, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

SEOUL (Reuters) - Kim Dan-bi's brother is the model of the establishment North Korean: an army veteran and member of the ruling Workers' Party, he is now a manager at a state enterprise.

But when he has the time, according to Kim, a defector now living in South Korea, her brother helps trade goods such as TVs and bedding smuggled from China, a sideline lucrative enough for him to have recently bought a car.