North Korea is issuing more brutal punishments for prostitution, but pimps often bribe the police and other officials to look the other way.
Speaking anonymously, a source in South Pyongan province told Daily NK on Monday that a Kaechon resident in her 50s was arrested at the beginning of August for letting prostitutes work out of her home.
After losing her husband, the woman raised her son alone while running a stall at a food distribution center. After her son joined a construction team last year, he repeatedly asked her for financial assistance. Finally, she rented out a room to prostitutes.
In the past, a pimp had asked the woman to rent out a room, but she rejected him out of hand. However, as her financial circumstances worsened, she eventually accepted the offer, and police investigators found she had let prostitutes into her house more than twenty times.
The woman’s boss, the party secretary at the food distribution center, rebuked her after learning she had facilitated prostitution.
The party secretary said: “As a socialist individual, how can you behave contrary to your moral compass and values? How could you have done such a thing when the whole country is moved to tears by the mighty love the Marshal (Kim Jong Un) has shown his people?”
The party secretary warned the woman not to “live a filthy life.” He scolded the woman harshly, fearing he might face sanctions for failing to manage his workers properly.
Woman’s punishment lighter than expected
Currently, the woman is serving a six-month forced labor sentence. However, people aware of the incident noted that her sentence was lighter than they would have expected.