A North Korean soldier at a military unit in Yanggang Province recently died after being assaulted by an officer, Daily NK has learned.
A source in the province told Daily NK last Friday that a teenage soldier with a unit under the 267th Division of the 10th Corps was beaten to death by an officer for dozing off and dropping his weapon while on night watch on Oct. 15.
Amid rising military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the North Korean government has reportedly instructed all soldiers to be extra vigilant in their guard duties.
Military units on the border have increased their duty officers from two to three as an ongoing precaution against contingencies, while soldiers serving on night watch have been told to remain awake because of the ever-present threat of espionage.
Then on Oct. 15, the officer on duty in a unit that reports directly to the 267th Division found a teenage soldier asleep in the guard hut, with his weapon on the ground. The teenage soldier — who was so intoxicated when his night watch began that he could barely stand up straight — was reportedly subjected to vicious insults and then physical violence by the officer.
The teenage soldier begged for forgiveness for his negligence, but the officer was enraged that he had fallen asleep on duty at a time when tensions are so high. Having seized the soldier’s gun, the officer beat him with the butt of the gun in an assault that reportedly lasted for over ten minutes.
Even after the teenage soldier lost consciousness, the officer reportedly continued to beat him for “being a sissy.”
Other soldiers who witnessed the affair tried to intervene, but were unsuccessful, and the teenage soldier eventually died on the spot after the severe beating, the source explained.
The news that the deceased soldier had only been 18-years-old reportedly infuriated local residents. Their criticism of the perpetrator was further fueled by the fact that the teenage soldier had barely been in the army for a year and was an only child, according to the source.
“People were saddened to learn that this young man, who had been in the army a little over a year, lost his life in a run-in with the wrong kind of officer. The incident has brought up the issue of violence inside the army, which had been dormant for a while, and subverts the government slogan about positive relations between officers and enlisted soldiers,” the source said.
The officer who beat the teenage soldier to death was arrested the following morning and transferred to the military unit’s prosecutors’ office, the source said.
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