North Korean student beaten to death for trying to steal gasoline

North Korean soldiers bludgeoned a high school student to death for trying to steal gasoline from a military truck, apparently hoping to sell the gasoline to pay an arbitrary school fee, residents in the country told Radio Free Asia.

The May 4 incident in the village of Tongnam in the northern province of Ryanggang stems from a common occurrence in the country: the cash-strapped North Korean government frequently turns to students to provide labor or free materials for state projects, or pay some money if they can’t. supply what is requested.

At the victim’s school, students were ordered to bring paint and varnish to the school for a construction project. But four students were unable to find either those materials or money, two residents of the province said on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“They tried to steal the gasoline to get money for the school,” said one of the residents. “Students who were unable to donate paint or varnish were instructed to donate 4,000 won (US$0.50) each.”

Varnish and paint are hard to come by in rural areas, he said.

Five soldiers who had stopped in the village for lunch noticed what the boys were doing and started beating them, the two sources said.

“The soldiers were from the 8he General Office stationed in Komsan-dong, Hyesan. They were returning to the base after delivering food to a secondary military unit in the Samjiyon Potae Workers’ District,” said a second resident.

“After they realized that one of the students had died, they left without doing anything for him,” he said.

The other three students fled the scene and were later arrested and police are investigating their case, the first resident said.

“Where are they supposed to get paints and varnishes?” she said. “Students had no way to raise money.”

The fate of the soldiers is not yet known, the resident said.

“Hyesan City Military Police carried out an investigation at the scene, but we don’t know what kind of punishment the soldiers were subjected to,” he said.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.