Daily NK has received exclusive news of a late December incident on the Sino-North Korean border (between Bocheon in North Korean Yangkang Province and Changbai in Chinese Jilin Province) in which two North Korean border guards shot and killed two Chinese men over the trafficking of North Korean women.
A source from Hyesan told Daily NK on the 3rd, “On the 29th of last month these two Chinese men in their 30s waiting on the Chinese side of the Yalu River to take delivery of a woman were robbed and then killed by two North Korean border guards who crossed the river to get to them. Chinese public security checked out the scene of the crime and notified the North Korean National Security Agency, and they arrested two border guards on the 31st.”
“The two border guards were apparently supposed to hand a woman to the Chinese men in exchange for money, but instead they took the money and shot the men,” the source went on. “The NSA is keeping the case under wraps, but the guards are under interrogation now.”
The source continued, “Trafficking of Chosun women by groups of Chinese criminals and Chosun border guards in the border region is common, and it seems to me that this incident happened because the border guards could not find any women to sell so they took the money and killed the men instead.”
It is almost certain that the two border guards will face very severe punishment, especially since the murders run the risk of creating a bilateral incident between Pyongyang and Beijing.
According to the source “The two border guards will almost certainly face the death penalty given that they not only murdered foreigners, but also illegally crossed an international border in possession of a weapon and had become embroiled in human trafficking.”
Revealing further news of the incident, a Chinese public security agent from nearby Baishan commented, “Trafficking of women is impossible for Chinese men from the regions unless they are introduced to it by a dealer. Therefore, security in Changbai will be searching for the dealer who introduced those Chinese men to the North Korean border guards.”
