A band of robbers operating in Wonsan, Kangwon Province, was recently arrested and put on public trial in early April, Daily NK has learned.
“Earlier this month, a group of three men were put on public trial at the Sinhung Market in Wonsan after they were arrested for robbery,” a source in Kangwon Province told Daily NK on Apr. 30, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Two of the men were discharged from the military last spring, and the third is a student at Wonsan Agricultural University.”
The two former soldiers met each other after they were discharged and found themselves in dire financial straits, both seeking more lucrative work outside of their state-assigned places of employment. The student, who was in his second-year at Wonsan Agricultural University, met the other two while looking for a way to pay his school fees.
United by their common circumstances, the three men first agreed to work together to earn money, eventually turning to theft.
Starting in November 2023, they would go around to their neighbors’ houses and steal anything that looked to be of value. Then, in January, they began to break into houses wearing masks and demand money from the occupants.
Many Wonsan residents were frightened once rumors of the band of robbers began to circulate, and the municipal branch of the country’s national police agency, the Ministry of Social Security, made a concerted effort to catch them.
Then, at the beginning of April, one of the three men broke into a house and successfully stole USD 700 and KPW 2,000,000 (approximately USD 154), but was arrested when the victim called the police, which dispatched a nearby officer.
As the Ministry of Social Security looked into the case, it discovered the identities and addresses of his two accomplices, and immediately arrested them. The ministry found that the three men had committed dozens of similar crimes.
Ultimately, the three men were publicly tried at the market in Sinhung in early April. The market is known to be an occasional site for public trials.
One of the former soldiers was found to be the trio’s leader and was sentenced to three years of reform through labor. The other two were sentenced to two years in a forced labor camp.
However, the source explained that the people who had witnessed the trial expressed more discontent with the government than the robbers themselves.
“There were some that expressed sadness that men who had sacrificed their youth to the military and a college student felt that they had no other choice but to turn to theft to survive,” the source explained.
Some pointed out that if the men’s lives had been more stable, they would not have become thieves. Because their crimes were born of poverty, they feel that the state should also be held responsible.
“Recently, trials for those who have committed burglary or theft have been on the rise, and if the lives of ordinary people don’t improve, then these kinds of incidents will only become more common,” the source said. “Despite this, the state has not developed any measures to address the underlying causes of these incidents, opting to merely raise awareness and impose criminal penalties on the perpetrators.”
Translated by Audrey Gregg. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons. For more information about Daily NK’s network of reporting partners and information-gathering activities, please visit our FAQ page here.
Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean