Two North Korean women were allegedly sexually assaulted by several soldiers at a restaurant in Yanggang Province in mid-February, Daily NK has learned.
A source in the province told Daily NK on Monday that four soldiers from the First Battalion of the 43rd Infantry Brigade in Kimhyonghwon County (formerly Pungsan County) allegedly sexually assaulted two women in their twenties on Feb. 18. The source added that locals have been harshly criticizing the soldiers’ military unit for denying any knowledge of the crime.
The military unit in question is headquartered in Pabal Village, Kimhyonggwon County, and is reportedly tasked with “eliminating any South Korean special forces that infiltrate the area during a crisis.” The unit’s farflung location makes it difficult for the local military leadership to exert control over it, the source said.
Based on the source’s account, at 2 PM on Feb. 18, four officers and two enlisted soldiers from the unit sat down at a restaurant and began drinking alcohol. Soon they became drunk and started making sexual remarks towards women who were entering and leaving the restaurant.
At around 6:30 PM, two women came to the restaurant to eat dinner. The women were attractive, and one of the soldiers went over to the women and groped their shoulders and hair.
Then, the two enlisted soldiers in the group were sent over to the restaurant’s entrance to lock the door. The four officers proceeded to surround the women and sexually assault them.
The sexual assault went on for over an hour, but the owner of the restaurant could neither yell at them nor take any kind of action. Soldiers with the First Battallion are known locally as “strong fighters,” and when they commit acts of group violence, even the local Ministry of State Security and Ministry of Social Security avoid going up against them, the source said.
The source added that it would have been difficult for a single restaurant owner to stop the sexual assault.
Local authorities have not taken any particular actions against the alleged perpetrators of the incident, despite the fact that it occurred during the “special security period” of Feb. 14 – Feb. 19, which was enforced to prevent “incidents” around Kim Jong Il’s 80th birthday on Feb. 16. The military unit has continued to deny any knowledge of the sexual assault, likely to avoid the possibility that the whole unit could be held responsible for the crime.
“All sorts of crimes continue to happen because young and energetic men have been forced to join the military and serve their country for a long time,” the source said. “During their service, however, the military does not control them properly, which has led to the continued occurrence of similar incidents.”
He further noted that “soldiers will commit similar crimes if the military fails to take responsibility for handling this most recent case.”
Translated by Jason Mallet
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