A North Korean military unit is in an uproar after a female soldier recently attempted suicide after allegedly suffering from sexually assault by five of her superiors in five separate instances. The military authorities, however, have attempted to minimize the incident by giving the woman an early discharge.
According to a Daily NK source in North Korea on Wednesday, the female soldier — a phone operator at the headquarters of the Seventh Corps in Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province — was in critical condition after she attempted suicide at a military hospital in mid-December.
Despite suffering severe blood loss, she could not receive an infusion due to a lack of donor blood. In the end, she reportedly lost consciousness.
The soldier explained her decision in a densely worded, 12-page suicide note.
Given that she began the note with the words, “Petition Letter,” the soldier apparently wanted to inform the authorities of everything that happened to her after she entered the army and see that such things never happened again in the military.
The soldier — identified simply as “A” and hailing from South Hwanghae Province — enlisted in the military when she was 17, and had been serving as a telephone operator in the Seventh Corps for six years.
Her nightmare began immediately after she was deployed to her unit after basic training. For close to a year, she was repeatedly and allegedly sexually assaulted by a political guidance officer in his early 40s identified by his family name of Kim. The officer was a major at the time.
After the assaults, Kim told A he would take care of her, but he cut contact with her after he entered a “political university,” which trains political officers for the North Korean military.
The second alleged assailant — a lieutenant colonel at the time identified by his family name of Han who was the deputy head of the manpower department — raped A in his office. Han also said he would take care of her and even promoted her to a cadre-level rank, but he continued to sexually assault her afterwards.
Now a political worker in terms of rank, A applied to a political university in hopes of preventing sexual assaults on female soldiers, having suffered sexual assaults herself.
However, the head of the cadre department — a colonel at the time identified by his family name of Jo — omitted A’s application and told her to come to an office in a bunker if she wanted to go to the university.
Sensing what was up, A borrowed a mobile phone from the wife of an officer — a woman with whom she was close as they were from the same town — to record what might happen in the office.
Jo was reportedly waiting for her in the bunker office — a headquarters operations office in times of war — dressed only in his underwear, and allegedly demanded sex from the very start of the encounter. He presented a stack of one hundred KPW 5,000 bills and told her he would get her into the ruling party and pay her university tuition. When she refused, however, he tore off her clothes.

However, when he found the phone in her clothes recording their conversation, he beat her. Then he found the owner of the phone and threatened her to keep quiet.
Abandoned by even the woman with whom she was close, A reportedly felt psychologically tortured due to a sense of betrayal and isolation.
Not long after, Kim — the man who had previously assaulted her — appeared at the Seventh Corps as a General Political Bureau inspector.
A General Political Bureau cadre who came with Kim — a senior colonel identified by his family name of Jo — lured A to the room in which he was staying. He allegedly attempted to rape her, but failed due to her strong resistance. However, in addition to torn clothing, A suffered injuries and she admitted herself into a military hospital.
A applied for a discharge in October, feeling she needed to get out of the army as quickly as possible. However, the military said it could not grant her discharge while she was physically and psychologically unstable, delaying her discharge until February of next year.
A tried to endure the situation until her discharge, but her misfortune did not end there. A major in charge of the internal medicine department of the hospital — a man identified by his family name of Ryom who doubled as party cell secretary — allegedly raped her again after giving her sleeping medication.
When A woke up, she realized she had been raped while she was unconscious. Dejected, she attempted suicide.
Word has been spreading that a female soldier attempted suicide after leaving behind a note explaining the injustices inflicted on her.
Faced with this situation, military authorities began investigating her allegations. However, the assailants have so far received no punishment other than temporary suspensions or transfers.
The source said that because the assailants include a high ranking cadre in the General Political Department, the case will likely conclude with mere slaps on the wrist.
Meanwhile, on the brink of death, A received notification on the morning of Dec. 20 that she had been discharged.
Because the North Korean military hardly ever discharges soldiers in December, when the army is conducting winter training, the discharge notification is considered extraordinary.
The source claimed that the discharge notification means A is now a civilian, and that the military rushed to discharge her to minimize the incident.
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