The North Korean authorities have mobilized students, some as young as ten, to take part in special patrols to ensure that no unforeseen incidents occur during the nationwide period of mourning to commemorate the 1994 death of Kim Il Sung. The mourning period lasts from July 6th to 14th.
The authorities have prepared for any eventuality during the sensitive mourning spell by stepping up the defense of important buildings, statues and other public works related to the rule of the Kim family. Daily NK has confirmed that this year children as well as adults are doing the guard work.
A source from Yangkang Province told Daily NK, “Every workplace, school and people’s unit has been involved in this ‘special patrol’ related to the mourning period for the last two days. Villages have also formed teams in each people’s unit and are doing daytime patrols.”
“There are even patrols in elementary schools, nominally for the purpose of stopping incidents,” the source added. “But it is not the teachers doing it; it’s the students.”
“Parents think it’s out of order,” the source went on. “Not least since kids of ten and eleven are unable to cope with problems even in the event that they do occur.”
Meanwhile, “In the morning some adults participate in city improvement work and attend culture study sessions related to the mourning period, then at night they have to go on night patrols,” the source also revealed. But this is nothing new, he said: “Whenever the mourning period comes people complain that the dead are torturing the living.”
While it is impossible to verify whether elementary school students are being mobilized for guard duties on a nationwide basis, it is well documented that life is harder than normal at such times. Punishments are particularly harsh for crimes committed during the periods, too.
Famously, an incident occurred in the late 2000s where a Party cadre in Chongjin, North Hamkyung Province got into grave trouble for drinking alcohol during a mourning period for Kim Il Sung.
Elsewhere, public singing and dancing, drinking of alcohol and gambling are all banned at this time of year, as are the four traditional ceremonial occasions: coming-of-age, weddings, funerals and ancestral rites.
