A man who allegedly assaulted a police officer during a stop in November in Sinuiju, North Pyongan province, and made off with the officer’s weapon was apprehended in January after two months on the run.
“A man who beat a police officer who tried to inspect him and ran off with the officer’s handgun in Sinuiju was caught on Jan. 20, two months after the incident,” a Daily NK source in North Pyongan province said recently, requesting anonymity for security reasons.
According to the source, the incident took place in mid-November of last year.
On the day of the incident, an officer from a police box in Sinuiju was heading home during duty hours on personal business when he encountered a man on a bike with cargo strapped to the back, talking on the phone. Feeling something was off, he tried to inspect the individual.
The man stopped when the officer called him, but he allegedly violently resisted the inspection attempt, knocking the officer down with his fists and taking his handgun.
The weapon was discovered later, about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the scene of the alleged assault, but the incident put the local community in an uproar due to the grave nature of the weapon seizure.
Provincial manhunt intensifies
“The incident was regarded as a serious crime mocking the criminal justice system, not just a simple crime, so the provincial police pursued the man,” the source said. “However, apprehending him proved difficult as he went into hiding after fleeing the scene.”
The provincial police used the man’s face, distinctive walk and way of speaking as remembered by the assaulted officer as decisive evidence. Based on this, they conducted a thorough investigation of the Sinuiju area, searching it with a fine-tooth comb. Finally, on Jan. 20, they got their man.
During questioning, the suspect said that on the day of the incident, he had “tied some illegal goods he purchased to the back of his bicycle and went to a prearranged site to hand them to intermediaries in exchange for cash, but was heading home empty-handed after the intermediaries failed to appear.”
“I was furious and was swearing on the phone when the police officer randomly showed up, and when he tried to search me, I accidentally assaulted him and took his weapon because I was worried he might discover my illegal activity,” the man said.
The suspect is still under investigation by the provincial police. The incident will likely become a political issue, given the gravity of the crime and social repercussions, with the suspect himself facing punishment and his family facing fallout.
“The provincial police is pushing the arrest as its greatest success in the lead-up to the Ninth Party Congress and plans to make it an example of stern law enforcement,” the source said.
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