Two soldiers beat a taxi driver bloody in Hyesan, Ryanggang province, after he refused to give them a free ride, according to a Daily NK source, highlighting the entrenched culture of military impunity that keeps many North Korean people living in fear.
The incident occurred on April 18. The driver, a man in his 40s, was waiting for passengers in the Masan neighborhood of Hyesan when two soldiers approached and demanded a free ride to Yonbong neighborhood, a distance of roughly two kilometers.
The driver told the soldiers he could not afford to take them for free, citing rising fuel prices and falling income, and offered to accept half fare as a compromise. The soldiers shot back that soldiers had no money, and when the driver held firm, they attacked him without warning, punching him repeatedly in the face in front of bystanders. When onlookers began shouting and crowding around, the soldiers fled.
The driver sustained visible injuries to his face and was unable to work for several days.
‘Soldiers are who drivers fear most’
The source said that identifying the perpetrators would be difficult and that any meaningful compensation was effectively out of reach. Similar incidents, the source noted, have recurred for years with little accountability.
“Taxi drivers fear soldiers the most,” the source said. “There are many cases where soldiers stop passing vehicles to demand money or order drivers to hand over goods. When that happens, both drivers and passengers tend to freeze up.”
The source added that some soldiers, when their demands are not met, resort to beatings or threaten people with weapons, compounding the sense of dread that many North Korean people feel when they encounter uniformed personnel.
The driver had been aware of the risks, the source explained, but refused the soldiers because he needed the income to survive.
Public reaction in Hyesan was largely critical of the soldiers. Most people who heard about the incident condemned the use of violence, regardless of the soldiers’ financial circumstances. Some went further, with one person quoted as saying that the military had become synonymous with theft in the public mind, and that young men who were once well brought up at home were learning to steal and brawl in uniform.
A minority defended the soldiers, arguing that civilians should show more understanding for the hardships of military service, or that the driver had been unwise to push back against soldiers known for unpredictable behavior.
The source framed the episode as something larger than a fare dispute. “This goes beyond a simple argument over a taxi fare,” the source said. “It is a case of the military’s sense of entitlement erupting into violence against civilians. Without institutional mechanisms to control the violence soldiers inflict on ordinary people, these incidents will keep happening.”
Reporting from inside North Korea
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April 30, 2026 at 07:50AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)