A political guidance officer with a border guard unit based in Onsong County was recently given a life sentence for engaging in human trafficking, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a reporting partner in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Friday that “the Ministry of State Security distributed materials on May 20 that exposed the acts of the political guidance officer, who openly engaged in human trafficking during the period the border has been closed due to COVID-19.”
According to the materials, the political guidance officer was relieved of duty, turned over to a court and sentenced to life in a forced labor camp when it was discovered he had trafficked six unmarried women.
The political guidance officer tricked the women, telling them he was looking for “women who could run errands to Chinese pharmacies because drug prices have climbed so much due to COVID, and that they could become instantly rich by earning lots of money in a short period of time.” Instead, he shamelessly sold the women to Chinese men.
The women were sold to the men for RMB 40,000 to 50,000 (around USD 5,600 to 7,050) each, which the political guidance officer split 50-50 with a Chinese human trafficker.
The crimes of the official and his accomplices are exposed
One of the women sent to China learned what was happening and ran barefooted to a nearby police station, where she caused a scene by harming herself and screaming that she be sent back to North Korea at once. In the end, she was sent back to North Korea, where an investigation took place and the political guidance officer’s crimes were exposed.
“During the preliminary examinationAlso referred to as a "pretrial," the preliminary examinatio... More, the political guidance officer’s countless crimes, which included not only human trafficking but also moving money, were exposed in full, and he was ultimately sentenced to life and his family exiled to the interior,” the reporting partner said. “All the brokers and soldiers the officer was involved with were snagged, too, and are undergoing investigation.”
He added: “The Ministry of State Security, in distributing materials about the incident, pointed out that officers like company commanders and political guidance officers are engaging in non-socialist behavior even more openly, and sternly warned ordinary soldiers against colluding with such behavior on the part of their superiors, telling them to immediately and directly inform the officers’ superiors.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea and China. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
