A North Korean teenager was recently killed during a burglary in Musan County, North Hamgyong Province, Daily NK has learned.
A reporting partner in the province told Daily NK on Monday about the death of the 15-year-old high school student, which occurred last month. “The teenager was killed in a struggle with a burglar who was taking the family’s belongings,” the reporting partner said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
According to the reporting partner, Musan County has recently seen a rash of incidents in which passersby are taken to remote alleyways and robbed of anything valuable — and sometimes even their clothes.
The homes of the better-off have become the main target of the burglars, who make off with whatever possessions families have managed to retain.
“The families reporting burglaries are generally among the well-to-do. That doesn’t mean they have a lot of possessions worth stealing, but that they’ve managed to keep food on the table,” the reporting partner said.
“Public living standards have deteriorated since the pandemic, and now families that can afford to have regular meals are regarded as affluent. Those families are the ones that robbers are singling out for their crimes.”
Robbers reportedly have the audacity to enter residences when the occupants are home and hold a knife to their throat and demand they hand over their cash. In short, people driven to burglary by extreme financial difficulties have now upped the ante to armed robbery.
“The growing severity of these crimes is making people anxious, just like in that old proverb, ‘He who will steal a pin will steal an ox.’ It’s gotten to the point that people are afraid to stay at home or go out on the street,” the reporting partner said.
Parents find teenager dead in their home
The current mood is reflected by the recent killing of the teenager in Musan County, the reporting partner said.
The teenager, who was home alone at the time, ran into the burglar during the break in. When the teenager attempted to defend his family’s possessions, the burglar struck a fatal blow with a deadly weapon, the reporting partner said.
When the teenager’s parents returned home, they found his dead body and immediately notified the authorities. They also confirmed the disappearance of the home telephone, their son’s mobile phone, their rice and some clothing.
The death of their beloved son, their only child, in defense of their meager possessions has left the parents basically unable to function. The father of the deceased has taken to drink to wash away the pain, and the mother fainted on the spot and has been confined to bed since then.
“In the end, everything goes back to economic difficulties, and the government also bears responsibility for neglecting the issue. If the government had only provided people enough food to keep them from going hungry, this kind of tragic incident would never have happened,” the reporting partner said.
“Unless [the authorities] properly identify the cause of this crime and swiftly take preventive measures, we’ll see even more gruesome incidents around the country in the days to come.”
The Musan County police have opened an investigation into the crime, but the criminal has not been apprehended yet, the reporting partner said.
Translated by David Carruth. 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.
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