Mick Hartley

Unlikely to make the news anytime soon, but still….

Over a dozen North Korean civilians and soldiers who had been transferred from winter military exercises to work in a gold mine lost their lives in a recent mine collapse, Daily NK has learned.

The accident was allegedly the result of insufficient safety measures by the North Korean government, which is desperately trying to earn foreign currency.

“Twelve North Korean soldiers in a unit attached to Training Camp No. 108 in Yonggwang County [in South Hamgyong Province] and three civilian workers were killed in a gold mine cave-in early on Dec. 19. Guards outside the entrance died along with the rest after they stepped into the mine to get out of the cold,” a source in the North Korean military told Daily NK on Dec. 26.

“While the winter exercises are currently being held, the leaders of the Yonggwang County unit attached to Training Camp No. 108 assigned some of their soldiers to work on a newly discovered gold vein. Workers reported signs of an impending cave-in a few days earlier, but they were told to stay on the job a few more days. The push to earn foreign currency before the end of the year culminated in the death of innocent people,” the source explained….

The source provided the following account of the current situation on the ground:

“The unit has decided that all the soldiers who died in the cave-in at the gold mine in Yonggwang County will be recorded as having died on the line of duty during the winter exercises. It has also beefed up guard duty to block unauthorized access to the mine where the new gold vein has been found.

“After the fatal accident, officials from the Ministry of Defense rushed down to figure out what had happened. Rather than dealing with the loss of life, those officials gave clandestine orders to quickly bring the gold mine back into operation and to dispatch more soldiers to the mine work.”