North Korea recently conducted an end-of-the year commendation ceremony for “model warriors” of the 11th Corps — the so-called “Storm Corps” — and border patrol troops.
The Storm Corps has been tasked with surveillance and control of the people living along the China-North Korea border.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Monday that the ceremony was held on Dec. 10 with about 50 commanders and soldiers in attendance.
“The event congratulated those who exercised an indomitable fighting spirit in the iron-clad defense of the border and celebrated the victory in the quarantine war,” he said.
The source said about 20 soldiers received commendations.
“The government said these soldiers had brought about victorious progress in the defense of the border and significant results in the quarantine war,” he said.
According to the source, the authorities selected the model warriors if they “boldly stopped” illegal border hoppers or anyone else who approached one to two kilometers of the border — in accordance with combat orders issued with the government proclamation to close the border — and “hit the mark with their shots.”
In a August 2020 proclamation, North Korea established a buffer zone one to two kilometers along the border and warned that unauthorized persons or animals that enter the buffer zone would be “unconditionally fired upon.”
Since then, border guards have fired on people in the border region, leading to a series of unfortunate incidents, including the shooting of individuals who unknowingly entered the buffer zone in search of food. The order to fire upon people entering the zone still remains in place, according to the source.
However, the authorities consider soldiers who have actually fired upon intruders as “personnel who defended border guard posts and strongholds in a model way and delayed incidents by detecting phenomena and problems in a timely manner in a wartime-like situation.”
That is, they are soldiers “with a clear ideology who defended border guard posts during the difficult period, namely, the quarantine war on COVID-19.”
In fact, North Korean authorities bestowed Order of the National Flag Second Class medals on the soldiers, as well as unit commendations.
Unit political committees were reportedly tasked with bestowing the awards.
The authorities also reportedly inducted the commended soldiers into the Workers’ Party and highlighted how model warriors would receive priority admission into whichever university, officer academy or military college they wished to attend.
However, the source said the mood among the officers and soldiers who attended the ceremony was less-than-festive.
They wore expressions that seemingly expressed rage at the soldiers who shot people no different from their loving parents or siblings.
In particular, some of the officers and soldiers said the awards were issued “for shooting and killing not the enemy, but people who are like your own flesh and blood,” said the source.
“They called it a very inhumane award, and the mood wasn’t happy,” he added.
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