Kim presented the rifles to senior party and military officials on Friday, calling them a sign of his absolute trust and gratitude for their commitment over the past five years since the last Workers' Party of Korea congress in 2021, according to North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Saturday.
They were denied basic human rights and forced to endure extreme hardship. Official promises of free education and healthcare plus guaranteed jobs and housing had been a cruel mirage. And to their horror, they were prevented from travelling to Japan to visit the families they had left behind. But this week, after years of campaigning, four settlers who had escaped to Japan secured justice when a court in Tokyo ordered the North Korean government to pay each of them at least 20m yen in compensation.