North Korean youth are being forced to take part in outdoor military training despite sweltering weather as heavy rains and heat waves grip the nation amid monsoon season.
According to a source in North Pyongan Province, who spoke on condition of anonymity, second-year high school students 16 and under have been entering drill centers since June 30 for Red Youth Guards training.
The training involves military drills for North Korean high schoolers ages 14-16. Participants undergo 160 hours of classroom training and seven days of field exercises from late June to early September. Students learn paramilitary skills such as marching and tactical and shooting drills.
Because field drills occur during summer, prestigious schools in areas with workplaces visited by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un or top enterprises sometimes bribe local education departments to schedule training outside monsoon or heatwave season.
Most schools prefer drills in late August or early September, when rain lessens and temperatures fall. Students in isolated communities like agricultural villages often train during hot, rainy monsoon season.
Harsh training conditions
A Pihyon County resident said his child recently underwent training. “It rained constantly, and (my) child trained in the rain without protection,” he said. His child was distraught “because he couldn’t dry his clothes, so he had to wear soaked clothes until the end of the exercise.”
The source said forcing youth to drill in rain is not new, “but I feel bad as a parent since only students from powerless schools train when it’s hottest and it rains a lot.”
Even within schools, students from wealthy families pay bribes to undergo only shooting practice or serve in communication or desk positions.
“Those students simply undergo shooting practice if their parents prepare a bit of cash, even though they go to the same school as their classmates,” the source said. “Students experience discrimination because of money.”
Food shortages and discipline issues
Criticism has also emerged about meager food during field exercises. Some students bring their own food.
“Students have to ensure their own food by themselves even when they undergo Red Youth Guards training,” the source said. “They have to pay for five kilograms (11 pounds) of corn for seven days and a week of side dishes such as bean paste, salted seafood and roasted potatoes.”
An increasing number of students are shirking field exercises because instructors force them to crawl in mud or punish them to instill discipline.
“The training environment is too terrible and the drills too intensive for students to bear,” the source said. “I wish these sorts of drills for students would disappear since the kids will undergo military training when they enter the army.”
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons.
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