Read a version of this story in Korean
North Korea is posthumously granting membership in the Korean Workers’ Party to its soldiers killed in action in Russia’s war with Ukraine — a perk that will benefit their surviving families, residents in the country told Radio Free Asia.
Party membership is a special privilege in North Korea that improves the social status of families related to the member, giving them access to better education, jobs, housing and food rations.
It may also give them the right to live in the capital Pyongyang, which has a far better standard of living than the rest of the country.
But some parents who are notified that their sons have died in battle did not even know they had been sent to Russia, a resident in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
The Pentagon and South Korean intelligence estimate that around 12,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia since October. According to South Korean intelligence, at least 300 of these have been killed and 2,700 injured.
Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has acknowledged North Korea’s participation in the conflict.
The North Korean people have not been informed, either, but many seem to have heard about it through word of mouth, the resident said.
“In early January, a couple living in Myonggan county, relatives of my close friend, were told to go to Pyongyang without knowing the reason,” the resident said.
A senior local official — the county secretary — took them to the station in his car and and provided train tickets and lunch boxes to eat on the train — a rarity in North Korea, where most people cannot freely travel, especially not at government expense.
Once in Pyongyang, the couple was given a certificate informing them of their son’s death and a party membership card — but were told nothing about the nature of his mission or where he died, the resident said.
Authorities urged them to keep quiet.
“They did not even allow the bereaved families to cry out loud,” he said. “They repeatedly urged them not to share information with other relatives or anyone around them.”
Special treatment
Upon their return, the special treatment for the couple continued.
The county secretary picked them up and delivered them to their home, and ordered the factory where the man works to give him a special 10-day vacation, the resident said.
But even though the family is already getting the perks, they would rather have their son alive, he said.
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“According to my friend, his relative believes his son was killed while deployed to fight in the war with Ukraine,” he said. “The couple spends each day in tears, mourning the loss of their only son.”
Posthumous membership in the party is usually only given in combat situations, not to soldiers who die while performing their usual peacetime duties.
Promised homes
Another resident of the same province said that the authorities have promised to allow the family members of the soldiers killed in the war with Ukraine to live in Pyongyang as soon as there are available homes for them.
Since 2021, the country’s leader Kim Jong Un has been pushing his pet development project — to build 10,000 homes per year and 50,000 by the end of 2025 — in the capital.
According to the second resident, his wife’s relatives traveled to Pyongyang and received their dead son’s party membership card and death certificate at a ceremony where an official informed them that they would be able to live in the new homes.
“The party has decided that when Hwasong Street, which is currently under construction, is completed, the bereaved families will be called to Pyongyang and live there as Pyongyang citizens,” he said.
In previous reports about the housing project, Pyongyang residents told RFA that their homes were being demolished to build the new apartments. Although they were promised the right to live there once the homes were completed, they were concerned that there would not be enough new apartments to accommodate everyone.
The second resident said that the authorities asked all the bereaved families to not reveal too much information to the outside world, regarding why they are allowed to move to Pyongyang.
“Among the family members from my wife’s side, there are some who envy the relatives who will be living in Pyongyang in the future,” he said. “But the parents who lost their son are expressing their anger, saying, ‘What good is it when we lost our son? He was only 21 years old.”
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Ahn Chang Gyu for RFA Korean.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
