In Kyongwon County, North Hamgyong Province, a teacher recently tried to commit suicide because her father, a powerful official, strongly opposed her marriage to her boyfriend, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Monday that the woman, a high school teacher in Kyongwon County, was hospitalized last month after drinking herbicide following a clash with her father, an official of the provincial prosecutor’s office.
The woman dreamed of marrying her boyfriend of two years, a fellow teacher. When her father’s adamant opposition threatened this dream, she attempted suicide in protest.
Thinking of the future of his beloved only daughter, the father was determined to marry her to a man with sufficient qualifications to become an official – that is, someone with a good family background who had graduated from university and served in the army. He wanted to help his future son-in-law expand his career from the countryside to the provinces.
However, when he found out that the man his daughter wanted to marry was from a family descended from Koreans living in Japan, a lower caste in North Korea, he vehemently opposed the match, telling her to “break up with him immediately because I’ll never accept a man with a bad family background into this family.”
He asked his friends and associates if they knew anyone he could fix his daughter up with, and even brought a young man home to meet her.
Father relents after suicide attempt
Unable to persuade her father to drop his adamant opposition to her marriage plans, the woman tried to take her own life. Finally, after the excitement of taking his daughter to the hospital, the father reluctantly allowed her to marry the man she loved.
Afterwards, the father told his daughter’s boyfriend that he was “ashamed to have a teacher as a son-in-law.” He told him to “leave here immediately, get a house in Chongjin, and work in trade as I’ll give you the money,” and the boyfriend promised to quit his job.
“Rumors of what happened spread throughout the neighborhood,” the source said. “People said things ended well in the end, although there were twists and turns, and they envied the male teacher for getting such a respectable father-in-law, saying he’s as good as set for life.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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