A source recently told Daily NK that a violent clash between soldiers and civilian militia in Samjiyon, Ryanggang province, left three dead and sent shockwaves through the local community.
According to a Daily NK source in Ryanggang province on June 19, the incident occurred at around 10 PM on June 6—Children’s Union Day—in an open field near the rural housing district’s drinking-water construction site in Samjiyon.
Three military construction workers and nine civilian assault detachment members were drinking together when a quarrel erupted and quickly escalated into a fierce brawl, leaving two soldiers and one militia member dead. The source added that the entire Samjiyon community was thrown into a state of shock.
“That afternoon, the militia members bought moonshine from a private home and shared it with the military builders,” the source explained. “When one soldier said, ‘We do all the labor while you just watch,’ hostile words were exchanged, and tensions boiled over into a bloody fistfight.”
In their drunken, agitated state, they grabbed anything at hand—pickaxes, shovels, stones—and swung wildly. The intense fight lasted over an hour, resulting in multiple casualties, the source said.
Dozens of children’s union members returning home from the event, along with nearby residents, witnessed the scene. “When I saw the soldiers covered in blood, it felt like I was watching a scene straight out of the Korean War,” eyewitnesses told Daily NK.
People who witnessed the clash alerted personnel at a nearby guard post, who then called the military unit. About 20 armed officers from the Guard Bureau arrived and subdued the soldiers and militia members, the source said.
He added they kept lunging at each other despite the efforts of the Guard Bureau officers until Samjiyon city public security officers, alerted by residents, arrived along with the military unit’s security department and restored order.
All those involved were arrested and placed in separate custody by the city’s public security department and the military’s security department.
The incident was reported directly to both the Samjiyon city Party Committee and the military unit’s Party Committee, prompting a joint emergency meeting of senior officials.
“The city party condemned this unprecedented incident for tarnishing Samjiyon’s status as a sacred revolutionary site and demanded to know who supplied the alcohol,” the source said.
Furthermore, the source said the incident exposed failures in controlling mixed military-civilian personnel and in preventing public drinking. Judging that urgent measures are needed to prevent recurrence, the city party has launched a full review of the civilian assault detachment’s operations and is working with the military party committee to develop steps to restore trust in military-civilian relations.
