North Korean authorities have arrested a soldier guarding the Chinese border for using methamphetamine, part of a larger trend of illegal activities and poor discipline among soldiers in the border region, residents in the country told Radio Free Asia.
The guard had used his position to earn money by accepting bribes from smugglers who make a living by illegally importing goods from China. The lucrative arrangement allowed him to afford his drug habit, sources said.
The police received a tip from someone in the neighborhood where he was caught, a resident of the border city of Hyesan, Ryanggang province, told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“He was a senior soldier and was caught … doing drugs at the home of his 23-year-old girlfriend,” the resident said.
During the police investigation, the soldier confessed that he had collected bribes from smugglers since he was stationed there in 2019, and he used the money he earned to buy methamphetamine.
There are five brigades of the armed Border Security Command stationed at North Korea's northern border with China and Russia, along the Yalu and Tumen rivers. Unlike ordinary army units, border guard soldiers have more opportunities to earn money through bribery related to cracking down on smuggling and cross-border activities.
This soldier also robbed people to fund his drug habit.
“When the soldier ran out of money, he robbed residents’ houses several times to buy meth,” the first source said. “He also robbed a woman on the road at night, stole her cell phone and ran away.”
Sources said that such misbehavior among troops is on the increase, but there was no hard evidence to support this. It is almost entirely anecdotal.
Stolen documents
In another case, a border soldier in Pochon county, in the same province, fled his unit with stolen documents.
This incident stemmed from the soldier feeling upset that he was being questioned by a senior officer in front of the entire company, another Ryanggang resident said, without providing further details.
“The missing documents are known to be insignificant, but the brigade issued an order to capture the runaway soldier along with the documents,” he said.
Agents were dispatched to search for the runaway soldier and authorities issued an alert telling residents to immediately report if any stranger visits their home, the second resident said.
“The border security command soldiers struggled for several days without a good night’s sleep as they searched for the escaped soldier,” he said. “The commanders of the soldier’s company and battalion will be held responsible for his actions.”
The soldier remains at large.
Stories like these have caused the public to hold border guards in low regard, the first source said.
“Residents think of the border security command as a ragtag group with no fighting ability and poor discipline, unlike ordinary army units,” he said. “Border security soldiers are only interested in making money by colluding with smugglers and other people crossing the border.”
Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Ahn Chang Gyu for RFA Korean.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
