Recently, a young woman was sexually assaulted on the premises of a local branch of the Ministry of Social Security after being arrested for watching South Korean dramas. Family members who came to protest about the incident were threatened by authorities, who warned that complaining about the sexual assault could lead to an increase in the woman’s punishment.
A South Pyongan Province-based source told Daily NK on Monday that this incident occurred on the evening of Mar. 13.
That day, the Mundok County Ministry of Social Security’s preliminary examination department director, a man surnamed Cho in his early 50s, sexually assaulted a woman in her early 20s surnamed Cha. This incident happened five months after Cha was arrested on charges of distributing and watching South Korean videos.
Even though Cho was not in charge of Cha’s case, he called her out that evening by using the excuse of checking her preliminary examination records. In North Korea, preliminary examinations include the entire interrogation process prior to suspects being indicted.
Cho was meticulous in his plan, even using a guard to keep watch to avoid getting caught.
But it didn’t end up being the perfect crime. The very next day, the guard informed the preliminary examination department’s secretary about what had happened and the incident was promptly reported to the local Ministry of Social Security’s political department.
Officials in the political department, who were already not fond of Cho, reported the incident in detail to the county prosecutor’s office. In the end, Cho was arrested.
An investigation by the county prosecutor’s office revealed that Cho made threats to Cha while he was sexually assaulting her.
Cho reportedly told Cha that based on his review of her file, she could face life imprisonment if she didn’t play her cards right, while also claiming that he could ensure she received just a 15-year-long sentence before her case was turned over to the prosecutors’ office.
The victim’s family was furious after they were informed of the sexual assault. They demanded that the county prosecutor’s office hand over the woman’s case to the higher-ranking provincial prosecutor’s office because the county Ministry of Social Security office and county prosecutor’s office “are one and the same.”
But the response they received left them stunned. First, the county prosecutor’s office admitted that Cho’s actions were indeed wrong. But, the family was also told that their daughter was a “reactionary” for watching and distributing South Korean videos, and that if they didn’t want her sentence to be increased they “shouldn’t complicate matters further.”
News of what happened spread so quickly that, besides the woman’s family, even local residents became aware of the incident.
Perhaps as a result of people’s complaints, the county prosecutor’s office told the woman’s family that they were “considering whether to punish Cho.”
Meanwhile, the county prosecutor’s office is conducting internal discussions and investigations into similar criminal acts that took place in the past at the county Ministry of Social Security office and other police stations, the source said.
Translated by Gabriela Bernal
