Jong-ok Kim, about 45, wife of a minor, Hweryong district, was arrested for stealing some 20 liters of corn from a nearby cooperative farm when her children were starving at home in the spring of 1987.
During the trial, the judge scolded her for stealing. There was a microphone in front of her but she did not know what it was.
She murmured in a very low voice, "Of course, I know stealing is bad. Why would I steal if food ration had continued? How awful this country is."
Her complaint reached the judge through the microphone.
He was furious and committed her to 15year hard labor in prison for "criticizing the party policy."
She died in the autumn of 1992 of undernourishment and diarrhea, after five years in prison.