Over 20 young people sentenced at Sunchon public trial after Ninth Party Congress

North Korean authorities sentenced more than 20 young people to prison in early March at a public trial in Sunchon, a city in South Pyongan province, following the Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea as the regime moved to reassert social discipline.

“Public trials for non-socialist behaviors were jointly held by the Central Committee and Sunchon branches of Unified Command 82 in Sunchon on March 3 and 4. Over twenty young people were handed down harsh sentences in the trial,” a source in the province told Daily NK recently. 

The defendants were all between the ages of 21 and 28, most of them employees at the Suncheon District Coal Company. They were convicted of anti-socialist and non-socialist crimes, including drug trafficking and use, prostitution, and viewing and distributing foreign videos, and received prison sentences ranging from one to 15 years.

Those convicted of narcotics crimes received the heaviest sentences of 15 years. Those convicted of prostitution or distributing foreign videos were sentenced to 10 years. Those charged only with watching foreign videos received one to two years for first-time offenses or three to five years for repeat offenses. None of the defendants avoided prison time.

Regime moves to tighten grip after party congress

According to the source, the trial was convened abruptly on strict orders from the Central Committee to reassert social discipline in the aftermath of the Ninth Party Congress.

“Agents of the Central Committee branch of Unified Command 82 were on hand and micromanaged every stage of the trial. Crowd members were distressed to see that the defendants were young people with their whole lives ahead of them,” the source said.

Particularly striking to observers was the case of one young defendant who had been released in a sweeping amnesty marking the 80th anniversary of the party’s founding last year. Having been previously imprisoned for viewing foreign media and convicted of the same offense again, he received a harsher sentence this time.

“People familiar with the young man’s plight were shocked to see him being led away in handcuffs once again. One person said it must be awful to be arrested just months after getting out of jail,” the source said.

“There were sarcastic remarks about how the government released people in the amnesty last year on the 80th anniversary of the party’s establishment only to put them back behind bars to instill fear in the populace,” the source added.

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