Report: North Korea ‘Pleasure Squads’ Include 13-Year-Old Girls

North Korea officials and leaders have kept “Pleasure Squads,” with girls as young as 13 years old, to give the men sex, massages, or to sing and dance while partially clothed, according to defectors.

The world only knows about the secret squads because of defectors. The squad allegedly includes 2,000 girls picked at random by North Korean soldiers. The girls must undergo regular examinations “to ensure their virginity is intact.” They cannot speak to friends or relatives once they join the group.

Soldiers chose Mi-Hyang in her classroom at the age of 15 years old to service Kim Jong-il, the father of Kim Jong-un. From news.com.au:

The chosen girls, she said, had to meet strict criteria. They were to be under 165cm tall, free of scars and blemishes, and had to have a soft, feminine voice. Being a virgin was imperative.

After being “chosen”, rigorous training programs would take place. Girls might be sent to Hong Kong for months at a time for advanced massage training, or sent elsewhere to learn to sing and dance professionally.

Being a teenage student, Mi-Hyang said Kim Jong-il would touch her head and hold her hands, but would never call her for sexual relations.

She remains convinced that if she stayed longer than she did, he eventually would have.

Earlier this month, the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo said Kim Jong-un has recruited new girls for the Pleasure Squad after officials broke it up when his father died.

“After he came to power, Mr Kim trusted no-one and ordered thorough investigations into every official in the regime, from the highest to the lowest,” explained Toshitsu Shigemura, professor at Tokyo’s Waseda University.

The officials completed their investigations, which led Kim to reform the Pleasure Squads.

“The women who entertained his father knew many secrets and they have now been ordered to promise not to reveal any information before being sent back to their home towns,” continued Shigemura.

The newspaper reported the women received $4,000 and home appliances.

But in 2014, the media reported that Kim Jong-un had firing squads execute his uncle Jang Song Thaek over his role in the Pleasure Squads. Kenji Fujimoto, who worked as a sushi chef for the Kim family, claimed the uncle “was given the task of recruiting women – some as young as 15 – to please the late dictator.”

“[Kim Jong Un] hates that kind of thing the most. His grandfather Kim Il Sung did similar things. His father also had quite a history with women. So having seen them, he wanted to prove that he’s different and that he would eradicate such practices,” he said.