While oppression in North Korea knows no bounds, a video from South Korean Digitalsoju TV shows how the regime can be especially horrific in its treatment of women.
In the video, women defectors who formerly served in North Korea's military sit down with a South Korean host in a military-themed restaurant famous for its chicken. The cultural divide between the two Korean women becomes palpable when the North Korean points to mock ammunition decorating the restaurant, and the South Korean says she recognizes them from comics.
"Aww, you're so adorable," the North Korean replied.
The defector explained that all North Korean women must serve in the military for six years, and all men must serve for 11. During that time, she said she was fed three spoonfuls of rice at mealtimes.
Unsurprisingly, malnutrition is widespread across all sectors of North Korea. And despite North Korea being a communist country, the defector still said that even within the military, people badly want money and withhold or steal each other's state-issued goods like military uniforms.
The defector said that in North Korea women are taught that they're not as smart, important, or as strong as men.
A second defector said that the officers in charge of uniform and ration distribution would often leverage their position to coerce sex from female soldiers. "Higher-ranked officers sleeping around is quite common," said the second woman.
But the first defector had a much more personal story.
"I was in the early stages of malnutrition... I weighed just around 81 pounds and was about 5'2," said the defector. Her Body Mass Index, though not a perfect indicator of health, works out to about 15, where a healthy body is considered to have a BMI of about 19-25.
"The Major General was this man who was around 45 years old and I was only 18 years old at the time," she said. "But he tried to force himself on me."
"So one day he tells everyone else to leave except for me. Then he abruptly tells me to take off all my clothes," she said. The officer told her he was inspecting her for malnutrition, possibly to send her off to a hospital where undernourished soldiers are treated.
"So since I didn't have much of a choice, I thought, well, it's the Major General. Surely there's a good reason for this. I never could have imagined he'd try something," she said. But the Major General asks her to remove her underwear and "then out of nowhere, he comes at me," she said.
The Major General then proceeded to beat her while she loudly screamed, so he covered her mouth. She said he hit her so hard in the left ear, that blood came out of her right ear. She said the beating was so severe her teeth were loose afterwards.
"How do you think this is going to make me look?" the Major General asked her after the beating. He then instructs her to get dressed and tell no one what happened or he would "make [her] life a living hell."
"There wasn't really anyone I could tell or report this too," she said. "Many other women have gone through something similar.
"I
don't know whether he's dead or alive, but if Korea ever gets
reunified, I'm going to find him and even if I can't make him feel ten
times the pain I felt, I want to at least smack him on the right side of
his face the same way he did to me," she said.
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