Singers from the Moranbong band perform in Pyongyang

NORTH KOREA: SIX PUBLICLY EXECUTED FOR SEX TRAFFICKING, INCLUDING FOUR OFFICIALS

September 19, 2020:

North Korea on 20 July 2020 publicly executed six people, including four party officials, for their involvement in a prostitution ring that sold sex with female students of prestigious performing arts universities, sources in the country told RFA.
The six were executed by firing squad the North Korean capital Pyongyang. They were accused of buying sex or pimping in a network of paid trysts between officials and students at a high-end public bathhouse patronized by the city’s elites, the sources said.
According to one source, the execution order may have been given by leader Kim Jong Un, a supporter of the arts and the two universities from which the women were procured.
“I was at the scene of the public execution and saw four Pyongyang party officials and two pimps being executed for organized prostitution,” an official of the Pyongyang municipal judicial agency told RFA on 6 August.
“This particular case involved long-term organized prostitution for officials, using [private] karaoke rooms at Munsuwon, located in Tongdaewon district,” the source said.
The source said that many more people were implicated than just the six who were publicly executed in Pyongyang’s Ryongsong district on 20 July.
“Many people, especially party officials and policymakers in Pyongyang are involved in this case,” the source said.
“The head of Munsuwon and even famous movie stars conspired to arrange sexual encounters with the Central Committee and other [Korean Workers’] Party officials, offering female students in their 20s a side job with guaranteed pay of more than [U.S.] $500 per month,” said the source.
“The women involved are college students in their early to mid-20s attending the Pyongyang University of Music and Dance, or the Pyongyang University of Dramatic and Cinematic Arts,” the source said.
The prostitution ring was exposed when several students were shocked after learning what their jobs entailed and went to the police, the source said.
“When the female college students received money without knowing what it was for, and were then forced to have sex, they reported it to law enforcement authorities,” the source said.
“They arrested and investigated those involved in prostitution. It was reported to the Highest Dignity because of the severity of the case,” the source said, using an honorific term to refer to Kim Jong Un.
“Kim Jong Un, who was enraged by the students at his favorite schools becoming involved in the sex trade, appears to have ordered the execution by shooting,” the source said.