North Korean soldiers mobilized to rebuild flood-hit towns are stealing food and other supplies because they have been given none by the government, upsetting townspeople, residents told Radio Free Asia.
The troops are part of a new unit called the Paektusan Hero Youth Shock Brigade tasked with rebuilding efforts after heavy rains late last month caused flooding near the mouth of the Yalu River, which separates North Korea from China,
Several inhabited islands in the Yalu were submerged, and parts of towns on its banks were inundated as floodwaters reached their height on July 28.
Last week, troops arrived on those islands and immediately built a barracks, a resident of the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“But the government did not supply materials,” she said. “The brigade salvaged wood and bricks from houses that collapsed from the flood and built temporary lodging.”
The government also did not provide food, so the soldiers were responsible for feeding themselves until government supplies arrived.
“They went around private gardens that had been swept away by flood, they picked fallen corn ears and roasted them,” she said.
Eventually, the party committee from the city of Sinuiju, which lies across the Yalu from China’s Dandong, gave the troops imported corn, but told each platoon that they still needed to provide their own vegetables and fuel, the resident said.
“They went into the city at night and stole things such as coal and salted cabbage from storage in private homes that were not damaged by floods,” she added.
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As many as 1,500 residents are dead or missing after the floods, according to a South Korean government official, but North Korea has not verified any casualties. State media, however, did report that 7,000 acres of land and 4,100 homes were submerged.
License to steal
The Paektusan Hero Youth Shock Brigade must rebuild all homes that collapsed in the floods by December, another North Pyongan resident told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“They built their own lodging roughly with tents and the soldiers slept inside the tents, crowded,” he said. “The authorities explained that food, fuel, and daily necessities will be supplied only after the roads are restored.”
The second resident said that although some food supplies would be provided by the local government, the soldiers were told that they must provide their own fuel, vegetables, soap and other supplies.
“Saying ‘You need to provide your own supplies’ is the same as telling you to steal,” he said. “The youth shock troopers went to villages that were not damaged by floods, away from the Yalu River, and stole vegetables from private gardens and dry firewood from private storages without feeling any guilt.”
The residents therefore see the soldiers as a burden and a nuisance rather than support from the authorities, the second resident said.
“As soon as the flood damage recovery efforts began, the shock troopers turned into thieves,” he said. “Residents complained that the authorities created a town of thieves by sending these young people to flood-damaged areas without providing supplies.”
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.