North Korean authorities have slashed the number of allotted party membership slots for women soldiers soon to be discharged, deepening anxiety among those who will leave the army without party membership.
According to multiple Daily NK sources in North Korea on Tuesday, only two in 10 women soldiers to be discharged this year received party membership. This was just a quarter of the past ratio when 80% of discharged women soldiers entered the party.
In one company of women soldiers with the Eighth Corps in Yomju County, North Pyongan Province, only three of 13 soldiers discharged in the first half of the year received party membership.
In another company attached to the Fourth Corps based along the coast in South Hwanghae Province, only 20% of personnel to be discharged this year were granted admission to the party.
Sources say tougher membership standards are responsible for the drastic reduction. Reports that more discharged soldiers turned in their party membership cards during the COVID-19 pandemic led to the party ordering the allotment of party slots for discharged soldiers slashed and screenings tightened.
One of the sources told Daily NK that “the party believes that members must be able to give their lives for what the leader wants and treasure their party membership as a one-of-a-kind life, but during COVID-19, many people returned their party cards because they couldn’t participate in party activities due to hardship. I understand this was reported all the way to the supreme commander (Kim Jong Un).”
Frustration grows among female soldiers, and their parents
Women soldiers who spent five or six years serving in the military to enter the party are increasingly worried. In North Korea, women feel scorned if they leave the military without party membership.
One North Pyongan Province resident with a daughter in the army said his child “contributed supplies and money last year such as paint to fix up the company classroom and rebar and welding rods to fix up the base’s anti-aircraft gun installation” because she heard that “good conduct alone wasn’t enough to get her into the party.” Despite this, she could not gain party membership, “leaving her distraught,” he said.
A South Hwanghae Province resident with a daughter soon to be discharged said it was maddening to think of the money he spent “just for her to get a useless party membership card.” He worried that “if she came home without party membership, people would think she had a poor record in the army.”
Some say that if the party slashes its admission ratio for women soldiers, more women will avoid enlisting.
The North Pyongan Province source said women who enter the army “do so because they come from poor backgrounds or families and want to enter the party.” However, if such women cannot become party members even after their military service, “the number of women entering the army will naturally decrease.”
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons.
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