{"id":49898,"date":"2021-11-17T16:13:07","date_gmt":"2021-11-17T07:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=49898"},"modified":"2021-11-16T16:14:20","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T07:14:20","slug":"north-hunt-two-men-who-escaped-while-being-transported-to-forced-labor-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-hunt-two-men-who-escaped-while-being-transported-to-forced-labor-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"N. Korea on the hunt for two men who escaped while being transported to forced labor camp"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Korean authorities have put out a wanted notice for two young men in their late 20s who escaped while they were being transported to a forced labor camp after being convicted for using illegal foreign-made mobile phones.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Thursday that the two young men were being sent to Hamhung Forced Labor Camp after undergoing preliminary hearings and a trial in Hoeryong for using illegal mobile phones. On the train, however, they knocked out their guard by hitting him in the head and escaped. The source said the authorities have gone on high alert in several areas along the border and put out a wanted notice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The two youths made their living smuggling prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. They reportedly worked briefly as \u201cbrokers\u201d moving money across the border.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In March, they were arrested for engaging in \u201cnon-socialist behavior\u201d after using illegal foreign-made mobile phones. After several months of preliminary hearings and a trial, they received sentences of 13 years of forced labor. They complained to court officers that their sentences were excessive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They continued to complain even while they were being transported to the labor camp, protesting to their guard that \u201cthey weren\u2019t involved in human trafficking or drug smuggling\u201d and that they received heavy sentences \u201cjust for doing a bit of smuggling with Chinese phones at the border.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_41492\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-41492\" style=\"width: 696px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-41492\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/DSC04797-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Household near the Chinese border in North Hamgyong Province\" width=\"696\" height=\"464\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/DSC04797-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/DSC04797-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/DSC04797-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/DSC04797-696x464.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/DSC04797-1068x712.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/DSC04797-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/DSC04797.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-41492\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Household near the Chinese border in North Hamgyong Province. Image (June 2019): Daily NK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In particular, comparing their situation with high-earning money \u201cbrokers\u201d, they said they \u201ccouldn\u2019t make a good living\u201d and expressed extreme displeasure with how the authorities \u201ctake bribes to release people who commit many crimes while making a lot of money but come down hard on guys like us.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the end, with the train stopped at Gilju Station for maintenance, the pair told their guard that they needed to step out to go to the bathroom. Coming back to the train, they bashed the guard in the head, took the keys out of his pocket, undid their handcuffs and escaped out a train window.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The source said the government responded to reports of the incident by ordering that court officers and \u201cunified commands on non-socialist and anti-socialist behavior\u201d nationwide to \u201cfrankly inform\u201d all prisoners currently in pre-trial lockup of the incident and catch the pair \u201cwithout fail\u201d to show others \u201cwhat judgement awaits those who scoff at the nation\u2019s laws.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Public safety, security and police officials in North Hamgyong Province have launched 24-hour operations to arrest the pair. They are engaging in an all-out effort to catch the duo, sharing their height, clothing, photographs and other important information with the border patrol, the so-called \u201cStorm Corps\u201d and even <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">inminban <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(people&#8217;s unit) <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">members.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In particular, North Korean authorities have reportedly threatened that if anyone like the pair approaches the border, they will be \u201cunconditionally\u201d fired on to prevent them from illegally crossing into China. If they do cross the border, those manning the checkpoints will face heavy \u201clegal\u201d punishments for violating emergency quarantine laws with their carelessness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The source added that the government said it would give promotions and commendations to people who contribute to a &#8220;successful handling of the situation.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/%ea%b5%90%ed%99%94%ec%86%8c-%ed%98%b8%ec%86%a1-%ec%a4%91-%ec%97%b4%ec%b0%a8%ec%84%9c-%ed%83%88%ec%b6%9c%e5%8c%97-%ec%88%98%eb%b0%b0%eb%a0%b9-%eb%82%b4%eb%a6%ac%ea%b3%a0-%ec%b2%b4%ed%8f%ac\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Korean authorities have put out a wanted notice for two young men in their late 20s who escaped while they were being transported to a forced labor camp after being convicted for using illegal foreign-made mobile phones. A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Thursday that the two young men were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":43969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[3243],"class_list":["post-49898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-crime-corruption"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>N. Korea on the hunt for two men who escaped while being transported to forced labor camp - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-hunt-two-men-who-escaped-while-being-transported-to-forced-labor-camp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"N. Korea on the hunt for two men who escaped while being transported to forced labor camp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"North Korean authorities have put out a wanted notice for two young men in their late 20s who escaped while they were being transported to a forced labor camp after being convicted for using illegal foreign-made mobile phones. A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Thursday that the two young men were [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-hunt-two-men-who-escaped-while-being-transported-to-forced-labor-camp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-17T07:13:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/02\/DSC04782.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeong Seo-yeong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeong Seo-yeong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-hunt-two-men-who-escaped-while-being-transported-to-forced-labor-camp\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-hunt-two-men-who-escaped-while-being-transported-to-forced-labor-camp\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeong Seo-yeong\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9efe4479c399c25bb2d44c871b14e851\"},\"headline\":\"N. 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