North Korean state TV aired an interview with a former criminal who redeemed himself and achieved a coveted meeting with Kim Jong Un, as part of a new propaganda campaign that seems to be aimed at preventing youth from abandoning their worksites.

The campaign -- which is taking place amid an apparent labor shortage -- offers rare details of domestic criminal and anti-socialist activity, as Pyongyang often boasts of maintaining a perfect socialist society where employment, housing and education are guaranteed and everyone supports the party.