North Korean authorities have arrested three grave robbers in Unsan county, North Pyongan province, accusing them of desecrating more than 20 graves in search of a rumored Japanese treasure. The arrests have become a hot topic of conversation among North Koreans, highlighting the desperate economic situation that is driving some to such extreme measures.
According to a source in the province on Monday, the grave robbers were arrested in late May based on a tip from a citizen. But the news did not spread through the county until recently, nearly three months later.
“The three people were arrested by police after a local reported that some suspicious strangers were hanging around nearby graves without even pretending to pan for gold. When questioned by the police, the individuals confessed that they were behind several grave robberies in the county,” the source said.
Coincidentally, the county police had been searching for suspects in a series of grave robberies in the area for a year without success. The grave robbers had managed to elude detection for so long by frequently moving their hideout around the gold panning area.
The three grave robbers turned out to be “8.3 workers” nominally employed by various organizations in South Pyongan province.
In North Korea, 8.3 workers are individuals who conduct private business while paying their assigned companies a monthly fee to ignore their absence from work.
The three grave robbers confessed to digging up old graves in poorly supervised, remote locations because they had heard unsubstantiated rumors that Japanese colonists had hidden gold treasure in graves when they had to leave Korea in a hurry at the end of World War II.
“People visit graves on major holidays, such as Chungmyung Day or Chuseok, but not much else. As a result, grave robberies often aren’t discovered until a long time has passed. County police believe that this gang of grave robbers took advantage of this,” the source said.
A “strange and absurd” crime
As the number of grave robbing incidents in North Korea declined sharply in the 2000s, locals are taking great interest in this incident and subsequent developments, the source said.
“Graves were often dug up during the ‘Arduous March’ period in the 1990s because there was a lot of antique smuggling at that time. But in the 2000s, grave robbing decreased significantly. Local people are even more surprised when the grave robbers confess that they are looking for gold hidden by the Japanese during their colonial occupation of Korea. But they’re also eager to hear how the case will go,” the source said.
“The county police consider this to be a case in which struggling individuals fell for unfounded rumors and engaged in the strange and absurd crime of digging up graves for a year in the hope of getting rich. The police are currently investigating whether the individuals have committed any crimes other than those they have already confessed to, as well as who is spreading rumors about the case.”
The Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.
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