On Jan. 20, a Hamhung man in his twenties beat up a woman who refused to go out with him, a source in South Hamgyong Province told Daily NK last Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.<\/p>\n
According to the source, the young man, “A,” had been stalking the reluctant woman, “B,” since November last year, trying to force her to go out with him. Although B rejected him, A continued to stalk her until recently, demanding that she accept his advances.<\/p>\n
This year, A continued to harass B, even visiting her home and threatening to “follow her until she agrees to date him,” the source said.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 20, A drank with his friends and waited for B in an alleyway where she often walks, declaring, “I will hear a positive answer from her today, no matter what.<\/p>\n
When B appeared, he blocked her path, clung to her, and asked, “Am I so unattractive to you? What is it about me that you dislike so much? They say little strokes fell great oaks, so why do you play so hard to get?”<\/p>\n
B rejected him again, saying that she was not interested in dating at the moment. As soon as A heard this answer, however, he grabbed B’s jacket and shook her around, then began to attack her, kicking and punching her.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, B was able to escape and return home with the help of people nearby, but when B’s parents saw her torn jacket and swollen cheeks, they realized that she had been assaulted. They immediately found out A’s address and rushed to his house.<\/p>\n
B’s parents were determined to receive money as compensation for the assault or report him to be sent to forced labor camps, but when they visited him and saw his difficult circumstances, they decided to be lenient and resolve the incident with A’s apology.<\/p>\n
“A is a young man who was discharged from the military last year, and his family situation is so desperate that he can’t do anything without money,” the source said. “When he was thinking about dating a wealthy woman, B caught his eye, and he approached her intending to get financial help from her. When his advances failed, however, he apparently resorted to drunken violence.”<\/p>\n
According to the source, young men in difficult circumstances in North Korea try to date women from wealthy families to get financial help, but the women are wary of not only marriage but also dating.<\/p>\n
“A’s situation would have to be extraordinarily hopeless for the parents of a victimized daughter to let the perpetrator off with just an apology,” the source said. “The root cause of this incident was economic hardship, but the frustrating reality is that there is no solution to this problem.”<\/p>\n