Blocking a Grenade with One’s Body is an “Enemy”

[imText1]There is one memory I have from my life in the North Korean military that is truly dumbfounding.

It was in 1988, during the time South Korea was enjoying the spirit of the Olympics. I was placed on the eastern front where a grenade exploded in the barracks.

It was a quiet morning on the truce line. The soldiers had been removed from the stakeout the day before and were assembling in the underground barracks covered by a roof. It was about the time the commander had just finished checking the ranks and the soldiers were about to inspect the weapons and grenades.

The soldiers from the stakeout were wet from the drizzle that had continued to fall that morning and were still half asleep. It was the time when the soldiers had pulled out their magazines, were about the check their guns and inspect the grenades. The commander and corporal were inspecting the soldier’s weapons. The last soldier accidentally pulling both the pins from the grenade from his pouch was completely unexpected.

Not only had the grenade been shoved into a pouch too small, the morning drizzle had wet the magazine pocket so it wouldn’t fall out easily. The safety clip of the grenade had already been removed. The soldier was taking the grenade out with his finger looped on the safety pin. The grenade did not fall out, only the safety pin.

At the same time, the “click” of the sharp detonating cap sounded. The expressions of the commander, corporal and nearby soldiers all froze for a split second. We needed an emergency plan.

A heroic sacrifice reported as a “planned event”

Momentarily, the soldier who had extracted the pin quickly removed the grenade pouch and threw it on the ground. He threw a steel helmet on the grenade and lay on top of it. It was a difficult situation considering we had a grenade missing a safety pin and were underground.

With a loud “bang” the grenade exploded. The soldier’s insides splattered and he died instantly. A fatal incident had occurred within the blink of an eye.

Within the few seconds the commander, corporal and soldiers were baffled as what to do, the soldier who had created the accident threw his grenade pouch on the ground and lay on top of it for the safety of his comrades.

The whole brigade couldn’t help but feel moved by the heroic act of the soldier. We couldn’t help but praise the heroic act of the soldier who threw his life down for the lives of his comrades in order to block the accidental extraction of a safety pin. The moment the incident occurred, the army immediately began an investigation.

However, a little while after the investigations had started, we began to hear strange rumors. In the end, the whole office involved in the accident had been banished. Further, the soldier who had sacrificed his life for his comrades was announced as an enemy of revolution. The soldier was buried without a funeral or a tombstone stating his squad on some hills nearby.

Afterwards, this is how the course of events was reported.

The accident was planned by the dead soldier. The soldier was jealous of the heroes who had sacrificed their lives in order to save other comrades as grenade accidents had frequently occurred in the squad.

That soldier thought he could also rise up and become a hero if he didn’t die and lived through the grenade incident. The soldier had asked other soldiers about the dangers of a grenade explosion and had heard that you could live by placing a steel helmet on top of the grenade.

The soldier was staging a planned act so that he could show that he could live by laying his body on top of a steel helmet. It was truly an absurd event to show that such devotion is required by the North Korean army.

On hearing this incident at a young age, I couldn’t stop thinking about how life in the army would be so exhausting.