Three young laborers in North Korea’s Ryanggang province faced a public trial in October 2026 for a monthslong theft spree targeting food, livestock and farm tools belonging to struggling local households. Yet the case has stirred sympathy among Paekam county residents, many of whom blame the state rather than the thieves.
The trial took place on Oct. 9 in Paekam county, a Daily NK source in Ryanggang province said on Wednesday. All three defendants were shock brigade members in their mid to late 20s and had targeted homes and storehouses left empty while families worked the autumn harvest.
Shock brigades are state-organized labor units that the regime mobilizes for large construction projects nationwide. Their members are often young people assigned by the state who endure harsh conditions with little or no pay.
For months, the men raided small private plots that local families had carved out of nearby hillsides. They worked under cover of night, stripping crops that households rely on to supplement meager state rations. Such plots matter most in mountainous areas like Ryanggang province, where farmland is scarce.
As the harvest season began, the thieves grew bolder and tore open the gates of empty homes in daylight. They carried off anything that could fetch money at market, including washbasins, buckets and shoes. Shovels, hoes and other farm tools also disappeared from courtyards across the area.
The men cleaned out grain from storehouses and from the underground cellars that families dig for winter food. They also emptied pigpens, goat sheds and rabbit hutches in the neighborhood. They then sold the stolen livestock and goods at local markets, according to the source.
As the break-ins climbed into the dozens, local neighborhood watch units organized their own night patrols. These units form the lowest tier of North Korea’s surveillance network, grouping dozens of households under one leader. That leader reports regularly to local authorities on the daily lives of the families in the unit.
The patrols eventually caught the three men and handed them to county police for arrest. Police in North Korea fall under the Ministry of Social Security, which handles public order and criminal cases. Citing deep public anger over the repeated thefts, county police officials then put the men before a public trial.
Public trial in Paekam county stirs sympathy for shock brigade members
On Oct. 9, county police and other judicial officials lined up before a crowd of local people. The trial then laid out each of the men’s crimes in detail, one by one. North Korean authorities routinely stage public trials before mobilized crowds to deter crime and tighten social control. In one March case, a single trial sent more than 20 young people to prison in Sunchon.
The court branded the three “hooligans” who stole under the guise of preparing their brigade for winter. It added that the men had unsettled public sentiment and deserved severe punishment. Immediately after the trial, officials handcuffed the men and loaded them into a transport vehicle. The source said it remains unclear what final sentences the three men received.
Many Paekam county residents nonetheless criticized the state for failing to supply shock brigades with food and necessities. Others aimed their anger at brigade commanders for pushing young members to secure winter supplies on their own. In their view, those commanders effectively drove the young men to steal.
“The judicial authorities made a big show of the trial, but some people asked where the real answer lay,” the source said. “The state drags young people into shock brigades and works them hard without giving them food, clothes or firewood,” the source added. “People kept asking what crime those young men had really committed.”
Some locals argued that miserable living conditions and a lack of state support lay at the root of the crimes. Hunger-driven theft has become a familiar story across Ryanggang province in recent years. Daily NK has reported on border guards stealing crops from farms there during the harvest season. A Paekam county farmer was once sentenced to six months of forced labor for taking unripe potatoes. Hyesan, the provincial capital, has also seen its annual potato rations halted entirely amid food shortages.
The case comes as Kim Jong Un pushes his regional development policy, which relies heavily on mobilized labor. Shock brigades supply much of that labor for factories, roads and housing projects in the provinces. Many Paekam county residents, however, focused their anger on the officials running the brigade.
“The real problem is the brigade officials who pushed perfectly healthy young men to prepare for winter alone,” the source said. “Plenty of people complained loudly that those officials went untouched while only the desperate young men were hauled away.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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October 30, 2026 at 08:05PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)