A desperately poor father and his son were attacked by a group of local residents after trying to steal an electricity converter, with the son ultimately dying from his wounds, report sources in North Korea.
In Onsong County, North Hamgyong Province in mid-August, a man in his 40s who was in considerable debt attempted to steal a converter from a telephone pole with his teenage son, but was caught in the act by local residents.
The father had been unable to find work as a day laborer, and the entire family was living day-to-day. The teenage son was in his graduating year at the local middle school.
“The father and son climbed up a telephone pole just outside a village during the middle of the night,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on September 21.
“A local resident passing the area at the time discovered them and alerted the head of the local inminban (people’s unit, a type of neighborhood watch) and other local young men. The group pulled the two down and proceeded to beat them.”
The group of local residents took out their frustrations over the chronic lack of electricity and were incensed that the crime would have made their lives even more difficult.
According to a separate source in North Hamgyong Province with knowledge of the incident, after beating the two perpetrators, the group confirmed that the father and son were in fact local residents, but the son was already near death.
“He was rushed to the hospital but ultimately died,” the source explained. “The local police in the area are currently investigating the incident but do not plan to press charges against the locals.
Electrical converters are critical for providing electricity to residents living in the surrounding area and are expensive to replace. The police have thus judged the incident to be unpremeditated.
The theft of electricity converters in North Korea is considered a theft of state property and is a serious crime. Both sources said that local residents, however, have said that while the 40-year-old father who committed the crime was poor and eking out a difficult existence, he was kind and frequently helped out those around him. Locals are asking for the man to be treated fairly by the authorities, particularly given the loss of his son.
