North Koreans struggle to avoid conscription through costly bribes
They are selling their properties and taking out loans—all to pay doctors for false tuberculosis diagnoses. Families of North Korean conscripts are doing everything they can to prevent their sons and husbands from being sent to Russia to the front lines. From there, they rarely return.
Radio Free Asia reports that avoiding military service through bribery has become more difficult in North Korea these days.
False certificates of diagnosed tuberculosis are not new. Still, their cost has increased fivefold due to the rising demand from families wanting to avoid sending young men to Russia to fight against Ukraine.
In North Korea, every man must serve 10 years in the military, and every woman seven years. However, those who have the means can buy their way out.
According to the South Korean station NK News, North Korean residents in lower-level jobs earn between $1 and $3 CAD per month.
- Until last year, most medical certificates allowing for military service exemption cost about $100 CAD. Now it's $500 CAD - says a resident of the northern province of Ryanggang.
The price for avoiding being sent to the Russian front
What was once a huge sum has now become unattainable even for some wealthier families.
- People are selling their properties and taking out loans, but the price of certificates for a tuberculosis diagnosis keeps rising, so some residents are giving up - says another anonymous source.
Those who can afford it have relative peace, but only for a while.
The authorities in North Pyongan are combating fake certificates. They require citizens eligible for military service to undergo tuberculosis tests every three months instead of once a year.
According to the Pentagon and South Korean intelligence, North Korea has sent 12,000 soldiers to Russia to fight against Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow have not openly admitted this.
