Three thieves were sentenced to reform through labor at a public trial held in Hamhung last month, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a reporting partner in South Hamgyong Province told Daily NK last Thursday that the trio, who are all in their 30s, had been involved in a spree of robberies since March of last year. They were turned over for trial after being arrested while engaged in a theft.
The men had usually burglarized empty homes during the day, but also unhesitatingly barged into the homes of elderly people living alone to take their belongings in broad daylight.
If the thieves came to a house that was occupied, the thieves would trick the occupant into letting them in by pretending to be salesmen or electricity inspectors. After entering the home, they would use drugs to put the person to sleep before stealing their belongings.
“At first, they pretended to be traveling salesmen, but when more and more people stopped opening the door for them, they began disguising themselves as electricity inspectors starting in February,” said the reporting partner. “People are so used to facing several inspections a day that they suspected nothing and opened their doors, only to have their homes robbed.”
North Korean authorities currently carry out several electricity inspections a day, a fact the trio took advantage of to carry out their crimes.
Rumors began spreading through Hamhung about the men who carried out thefts of homes, be them occupied or empty, amplifying the anxiety of locals already dealing with hardship.
HAMHUNG POLICE LAUNCH OPERATION TO CATCH THE THIEVES
The Hamhung police then launched a sweeping operation to arrest the thieves and the trio was caught in the act in early April.
After being interrogated for about 10 days, the thieves were given a public trial at a square in Hamhung in mid-April in front of a large number of workers and young people. The trio received sentences of reform through labor.
“The recent increase in behavior causing social disorder such as theft and assault has led the local police to keep an eye out for criminal activity, and the trio seems to have been subjected to a public trial due to the particularly bad nature of their crimes,” said the reporting partner. “The trio’s lookout got three years of forced labor, while the two who actually did the robbing got five years of forced labor.”
According to Article 283 of North Korea’s criminal code, “A person who steals personal property shall be sentenced to a term of short-term labor of less than one year. In cases where a person has stolen a large amount of personal property, he or she shall be sentenced to a term of reform through labor of less than three years. In cases where a person has stolen a particularly large amount of personal property, he or she shall be sentenced to a term of reform through labor of more than three years and less than eight years.”
The reporting partner opined that “people who witnessed the public trial said young people wouldn’t get together to commit crimes if life weren’t so tough, and that the criminals wouldn’t have disguised themselves as inspectors if the authorities weren’t carrying out so many inspections.”
Translated by David Black. 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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