An indebted young woman in Ryanggang Province, North Korea
murdered a moneylender who relentlessly pressured her to pay back the loan, Daily NK has
learned.
“A 22 year-old female market vendor attacked and killed
a loan shark with a knife in Kimjongsuk County on June 4. The woman has been
arrested and an investigation is underway at the Ministry of People’s Security
unit in Sinpa County. A trial will be held soon,” a source in Ryanggang
Province reported to Daily NK on June 9.
“The young woman was unable to pay back the interest on
the loan by its due date. The attack happened in a store late at night when no
other people were present. A kitchen knife was the weapon used in the
attack.”
Two additional sources in the same province corroborated
this news.
As the number of women engaging in market selling in North
Korea steadily rises, so too has the corresponding number of loan sharks, who
offer these entrepreneurs loans to grow their business ventures while profiting
handsomely on the interest.
The burgeoning market allows lenders to engage more clients
and offer lower interest rates: most charge 10% currently, compared to the 20-30%
rate typical of the past. For small-scale personal loans the payback period is
usually one month, with interest rates ranging from 7-10% on the high end of
the scale, 5% on average, and 3% on the low end.
The young woman in question used her house as collateral to
secure a loan but was unable to pay it back, and the attack occurred when the
loan shark expressed intent to repossess the woman’s house. Moneylenders
typically use pressure on borrowers in order to recover the principle and the
interest, but in this case, the loan shark’s tactics were said to be more
aggressive than usual, triggering an extreme response from the woman.
Predictably, news of the incident spread quickly and
elicited ambivalent opinions from residents in the surrounding area. “The woman
who committed the attack was generally well-liked, and as such people are
lamenting what time and hardship can do to change a person. They mostly seem to
recognize how tough her situation must have been to induce someone so young to
take such a drastic action,” the source explained.
However, there are also residents who are saying that as the accused did commit murder, the punishment must fit the crime.
“In the past, those convicted of homicide would be
executed by firing squad in either public settings or away from the private
eye. However, central authorities recently issued an order banning firing
squads, so they likely won’t do that. She will probably be executed via other
means as soon as the court proceedings come to a close, perhaps with an
instrument such as a rubber baton,” the source concluded.
