A soldier in his 20s serving in a guard unit of the Ministry of Social Security in Pyongyang’s Sunan district was recently hospitalized after suffering a beating by several senior soldiers, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK last Thursday that the soldier “was beaten up by five senior soldiers earlier this month because he didn’t agree to a request from the squad leader.” The soldier was hospitalized for “severe brain contusions” after the beating, he added.
The soldier, a native of Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province, was recruited by the Ministry of Social Security in 2021. After basic training, he was assigned to the ministry’s guard unit in Sunan County and has remained with the unit ever since.
Higher-ranking soldiers usually looked down on him due to his abrasive personality, and in fact, his superiors were waiting to “really let him have it.”
On Feb. 29, the soldier’s squad leader demanded USD 50, explaining that he had received a request from a superior officer. The soldier politely refused, saying he had so little money that he could not even leave the base. “There’s nothing I can do for you now because there’s no money coming from home,” he said.
The squad leader left, but not before threatening the soldier that he would “taste bitterness.” The next day, Mar. 1, the squad leader and four other soldiers dragged their subordinate to a secluded spot, forced him into a corner, and gave him a group beating.
“Soldiers tend to resolve requests for bribes from superior officers by passing them on to their subordinates,” the source said. “Soldiers perform these tasks with the help of their parents, so it is said that parents’ military service begins when their children join the army. Parents now have a hard time solving their children’s tasks in the army because they themselves are struggling.”
As a result, soldiers are sometimes beaten by their superiors for failing to provide the money requested.
Poor soldiers suffer the most
Meanwhile, the soldier did not report the violence to his unit, even though he was severely injured in the beating, and checked himself into a civilian hospital for treatment. The source said he did this because informing the unit would prove fruitless and get him branded a “rat,” making his life in the military even harder.
“Having to comply with requests from superiors, being beaten if you say no, and being beaten even worse if you resist is routine for soldiers here, when it was already pretty pointless to give up the best years of your life to the military,” the source said. “Ultimately, the problem is the higher officials who demand bribes from soldiers doing their military service.”
“Violence is rampant in the military because children from powerful or rich families can beat other soldiers and get away with it because of their money or power,” the source added. “In the end, the reality is that even in the military, children from poor, powerless families are beaten.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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