North Korean parents are desperately trying to keep their children out of the army ahead of the country’s spring draft, with mounting concerns over troop deployments to Russia. Parents are aggressively competing with one another, offering increasingly large bribes to prevent their children’s enlistment.<\/p>\n
“Parents of March graduates have begun frantically meeting with military recruitment officers,” a Daily NK source in South Pyongan province said recently. “News of troop deployments to Russia has spread throughout Pyongsong, Anju and other areas of the province, leading parents to do everything possible to keep their children from enlisting.”<\/p>\n
The reports of North Korean troops being sent to Russia have sparked widespread alarm, particularly as some families receive military death notifications for their enlisted children.<\/p>\n
“Five families in Pyongsong and Anju recently received death notifications for sons who had served less than five years,” the source said. “They weren’t told when, where, or how their sons died\u2014just given a notification. While there’s no confirmation these deaths occurred in Russia, that’s what local residents suspect.”<\/p>\n
In this climate of fear, parents are scrambling to get their sons removed from the draft list. One Pyongsong resident in their 50s recently approached a military recruitment official with $3,000 and Russian cigarettes, claiming their son’s poor health meant he “wouldn’t last a month in the army” and requesting a one-year deferment “for recovery.” The timing suggests a hope that Russian deployments will have ended by then.<\/p>\n
In Anju, a couple in their 40s offered a recruitment official $2,000 to exempt their child from the draft, even promising to “sell their home” if more money was needed.<\/p>\n
For struggling families who can’t afford bribes, working in the mines has become an alternative to military service. “People traditionally avoided mining because it meant their children would also become miners,” the source explained. “But now, they see it as preferable to being sent to war.”<\/p>\n
The situation extends to Hyesan in Ryanggang province, where some are considering extreme measures. “Parents are so terrified of their children being sent to war that they’re willing to consider self-inflicted injuries\u2014like severing fingers or toes\u2014if other options fail,” a Ryanggang source said.<\/p>\n
Military recruitment officials are overwhelmed by the constant stream of desperate parents. In Sariwon, North Hwanghae province, wealthy families make backdoor deals while poorer families make daily visits to plead with officials. Parents specifically beg to keep their children out of “units attached to the Reconnaissance General Bureau,” which they believe are being deployed to Russia.<\/p>\n
“Recruitment officers try to present the Reconnaissance General Bureau as an honor, but parents remain unconvinced\u2014they’ll accept any other unit assignment,” the source said. “Officials are now avoiding these distraught parents who follow them around begging for their children’s exemption.”<\/p>\n