Arrest Galloper

South Korean exploiters of slave labor investors are bracing for protests and riots across North Korea in the wake of a tragic fatal accident this week:

A North Korean soldier died and two others were injured when they were run over by a car driven by a South Korean visitor in the North’s scenic Mt.Kumgang
resort on Tuesday night.

Just in case you’re wondering, this story actually produces a negative value on the OhMyNews scale.

The driver identified as Jung (33) was an employee with Arthome INC, a Hyundai Asan affiliate. He was driving his Galloper after dinner in a restaurant near Goseong Port when he ran over three North Korean soldiers 50 m from the Mt.Kumgang gas station. One soldier was killed while another reportedly suffered a broken leg and the third escaped with slight injuries. It was the first time since the tours started that a South Korean has been involved in a car accident killing a North Korean. A Hyundai Asan official said it was not yet known if the driver was drunk.

So, when can we expect the revolutionary peoples’ tribunal?

A Unification Ministry official said under an inter-Korean agreement Jung faced a warning or a fine in the North, or would be deported to South Korea to face punishment here.

All I can say is, thank God the North Koreans understand that an accident is just an accident. Still, I’d love to know what the ol’ Intoxilyzer 5000 would have said.

Update 12/29: Turns out, it isn’t the first time this has happened:

A similar incident happened in October 2001. A Southern driver killed a North Korean soldier in a traffic accident in Kumho, where international consortium was building two light-water reactors for the North according to the Agreed Framework, a bilateral deal between Washington and Pyongyang in 1994.

At that time, the main contractor, the South’s Korea Electric Power Corporation, paid fines of between $5,000 and $10,000 and offered his deepest condolences. The driver was repatriated to the South and punished under South Korean law.