Fed Up With Corruption, North Koreans Are Attacking Police, Secret Document Shows

Disgruntled North Koreans are cracking down on police corruption by openly protesting against it and, in some cases, beating up officers, according to a local government official who has seen a secret document detailing the cases.

“Not long ago, I came across a secret document that contained amazing information. Between July and December last year, there were dozens of incidents here in Ryanggang province of people protesting against the tyranny of the police, or even taking revenge by beating them,” an administrative official from the northern province told Radio Free Asia under the condition of anonymity for security reasons.

The document contained details of several violent attacks on police officers, he said.

“A Paegam County resident and his son cornered a police officer on the side of the road and inflicted severe bruises on his head,” the official said.

“It was said to be revenge because the officer insulted his wife by treating her like a criminal at her workplace by forcing her to confess that she was responsible for a loss that occurred at her workplace,” he said.

People have come to see the police as thugs, another Ryanggang province resident told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

“The anger of the neighbors against the police, who use all kinds of tyranny under the guise of enforcing the law, is on the rise,” he said. “When you go to the market, you can often see women protesting or arguing loudly, and pointing fingers at the police who are in charge.”

Fights sometimes break out in the market between police and traders, the resident said.

“People close, like the women who have come to shop, will side with the shopkeeper and protest together against the police,” he said. “Seeing a weak woman directly confronting a police officer while she was on duty would have been unimaginable in the past”

economic collapse

North Korea’s centrally planned economy collapsed in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, and since then wages for government-assigned jobs have become essentially worthless.

To survive, people have had to take side jobs, start businesses or, in the case of police officers, collect bribes.

The economy, already in trouble, took a turn for the worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, and citizens who once tolerated police making bribery rounds are now fed up, sources tell RFA.

In another incident, in the city of Hyesan, an officer stopped a driver and demanded gas and cash when the driver did not have sufficient driving documents on hand.

“Enraged by the tyranny of the…officer, who detained him and his car for more than two hours, the driver ran over the officer’s motorcycle with his car and beat him unconscious,” the official said.

In another incident, a woman from Kimjongsuk County visited the home of the police officer who had sentenced her husband to 6 months in a labor training camp. She said her husband hadn’t shown up for work for family reasons, but the officer had treated him like an out-of-work gangster.

“She protested by ripping off the officer’s sleeves and ripping off his epaulette (from his uniform),” the official said, adding that the frequency of incidents similar to those detailed in the internal document prompted police to file a report, with relevant data. , to the central government, asking for help and guidance.

“Even the social security agents I know are very stumped,” he said. “They say that unless those who fight law enforcement are severely punished, they won’t know what else can happen to them in the future.”

Inflection point

However, the government has been taking measures to prevent this type of violent outburst against the police.

Since June 2022, citizens are required to attend educational sessions on law enforcement in the workplace and at home, and the country’s leader Kim Jong Un has enacted policies addressing violence against law enforcement. as acts against the State that must be severely punished.

But the cases reported in the paper show that some citizens have pushed their limits so far that they are willing to ignore the risk they run when they go after the police.

The sources said that people in other parts of the country are also likely to feel animosity towards the police and that it is nearing a tipping point.

“Some of my friends insist that if a war breaks out, they will go out and kill the police first,” he said. “People’s patience seems to be reaching its limit.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.