China confirms three killed by North Koreans in border village
Violence latest in a series of murders in northern China blamed on deserters from North Korea’s military
The authorities in a border town between China’s northeastern Jilin province and North Korea have confirmed that three villagers were murdered last week after a media report that three men had crossed the border in North Korean military uniforms and carried out the killings.
The propaganda department in Shilong said in a statement on its social media account that after midnight on Saturday police received reports that a 67-year-old man, a 55-year-old man and his 26-year-old daughter had been murdered.
The public security authorities at city, prefecture and provincial level were investigating the case, the statement said.
South Korea’s national broadcaster Korean Broadcasting System reported on Tuesday that three armed soldiers who had fled from the North Korean army allegedly entered the small mountain village of Shiren on Friday afternoon and killed three Chinese villagers before fleeing.
It did not mention what had led to the violence.The report said the soldiers were carrying weapons, but gave no details.
The report said the Chinese authorities had dispatched huge numbers of officers, including armed police, to search the area where the suspects might be hiding.
Local residents told The Beijing News that people in the area were in shock. “We were all terrified after it happened,” a villager from a neighbouring village was quoted as saying.
He said he had heard that two victims died at the scene and the other died later after receiving medical treatment.
Last December, a deserter from the North Korean army shot four villagers to death after entering another village near Shilong. He was arrested by Chinese police the same day.
In September, a North Korean killed a family of three in the same village.