The Korean People’s Army 12th Corps stationed on the Sino-North Korean border, a unit reportedly established by the Kim Jong Un regime, is still suffering from malnutrition, North Korean sources recently reported to Daily NK.
Daily NK reported earlier this year that 12th Corps soldiers were suffering from malnutrition due to a lack of food. Months have passed since that report and the food situation in the 12th Corps has not improved.
“Recently, the Hyesan People’s Committee conducted an investigation into households short on food,” a source in Ryanggang Province told Daily NK. “Of the 70,000 households investigated, 2,450 households (around 3.5% of the total) were only eating one meal a day, while 30% of these households (around 735 households) included officers affiliated with the 12th Corps.”
Households suffering a shortage of food in North Korea are defined as families that “have no money or food” and survive on potato peels and pick dead branches from living trees to sell, he said.
“Only officers in the 12th Corps are receiving government rations, but their families are not. The officers are reportedly eating their meals at the base with fellow soldiers, not with their families,” he added.
North Korea’s border patrol, which is located in the same region, is reportedly providing better conditions for its members than the 12th Corps. This suggests that the government is providing rations and other means of support depending on the perceived importance of the organization in question.
Daily NK previously reported that the North Korean authorities are providing the border patrol with cotton winter clothes, cotton winter boots, foot coverings, two pairs of winter underclothes, winter gloves and other items to ensure border guards can survive the winter. The 12th Corps, which is based in Hyesan, has not received any of those items.
“There are differences in the appearance of members of the border patrol and the 12th Corps, starting with the kind of hats they wear. The 12th Corps have old hats without any brim and they’re easy to spot,” a separate source in Ryanggang Province told Daily NK.
“The insignia worn by [soldiers in the 12th Corps] are old and hard to see, so it’s difficult even for members of the same unit to know who is higher ranked. Soldiers in the 12th Corps don’t look healthy at all, and are short and thin. You can tell it’s them from 100 meters away.”
“The shabby hats may have been given out for the soldiers to use during their work instead of more formal wear,” a North Korean defector knowledgeable about the Korean People’s Army told Daily NK on condition of anonymity. “The soldiers may just be wearing work clothes because the conditions in the military are so bad that they can’t get proper hats or clothes.”
North Korean residents often refer to the 12th Corps as “an army of beggars” and view soldiers in the unit with disdain, according to an additional source in Ryanggang Province.
“Soldiers who are unlucky enough to have been placed in the 12th Corps have to bring their wives along because it’s hard to find a wife when you’re attached to the unit. Families in Hyesan don’t want their daughters to marry soldiers in the unit,” he said.
“While attending the military officers academy, many soldiers avoid service in the 12th Corps. Parents with kids in the 12 Corps are very concerned about what will happen to them.”
