Injuries during Red Youth Guard entry training in South Hamgyong province are going untreated, a source in North Korea told Daily NK recently.
In early July, a second-year student at an advanced middle school in Hamhung severely injured her finger when it got caught in the barrel while cleaning an automatic rifle during training, the source said.
No medical personnel were on site, and she received no proper first aid or treatment until the training ended.
“The injury swelled and became infected with pus, but the camp had no medical staff or medicine,” the source said. “She was in pain throughout the entire training period and only went to the hospital after it ended, by which time it was too late for proper treatment.”
The source added, “The wound has become necrotic with severe ongoing inflammation, so she may need to consider amputation. The hospital is administering antibiotics to prevent the infection from spreading, but doctors say if the wound doesn’t heal and the necrosis worsens, amputation will be unavoidable.”
The student is also showing suspected tetanus symptoms and is receiving intensive care.
As the situation worsened, the student’s parents filed a petition with party authorities, saying, “We sent our child to military training and she was injured, but she came back in this condition without receiving proper treatment.”
The Red Youth Guard, composed of North Korean students aged 14 to 16, conducts regular military training, including a week-long summer entry program for second-year advanced middle school students.
Participants stay in camps modeled after military barracks, receiving training in drills, formations, tactics, and shooting while experiencing collective barracks life for the first time.
The training matches the intensity of actual military drills, leaving many students injured, yet many camps lack medical staff and adequate medical supplies.
As a result, homeroom teachers who accompany students handle accidents at their own discretion, which in practice amounts to little more than bandaging wounds.
The source said criticism is growing internally over the state’s neglect of Red Youth Guard members’ safety and health despite training them as wartime reserve forces.
“They make children train with the same intensity as soldiers, but when they get injured, there’s no proper medical environment available,” the source said. “This Hamhung girl’s case demonstrates how carelessly the state responds to accidents during Red Youth Guard training.”
