Key North Korean officials have access to a group of women that most of the world has never heard of before: the pleasure squad. The pleasure squad is a group of young girls, aged 15 to 25, forced by the North Korean government to entertain powerful individuals for around 10 years. The existence of this entity, curated by the government, shines a spotlight on the perverted nature of the Kim dynasty and the willingness of the government to endorse the exploitation of young women.
North Korean human rights activist Yeon Min Park has expertly broken down the realities of the pleasure squad detailing how a select number women in North Korea are subject to the abusive behavior of elite members of the government. In her video, she explains exactly why and how the pleasure squad was created. In the 1970s, Kim Il-Sung was deliberating who should be his successor once he passed away. While Kim Song-ae, his second wife, advocated for her son, Kim Pyong-il, to become the next supreme leader, Kim Jong-Il decided to find other ways to persuade his father into picking him instead. Kim Jong-il decided to create the pleasure squad as a way to convince his father that he was the right choice. Alongside other contributing factors—such as him being his father’s first born—Kim Jong-il was chosen to be the next leader.
From this time forward, the pleasure squad has been a growing institution within the North Korean government. Government employees scour through the nation to select women to take away from their homes to be placed in this role. The first criteria for a potential member is her familial status. Officials ensure that she is coming from a family without any relations to someone who has defected or to someone who is living outside of North Korea. Any connection to the outside world has the potential to inspire attempts of defection that could be aided by newly formed relations to powerful individuals. This criteria must be met by all candidates before they advance into a physical examination. The physical examination makes sure the young women who are selected meet the desired standards of whoever they are meant to be of service to. This process examines the entirety of the contender, leaving not an inch of their body unsearched. Finally, a decision is made on who shall be admitted to the pleasure squad. The parents of the selected women are promised honor and a better future for their child so that they are less likely to contest the decision. However, those who are selected have no choice in whether or not they participate, and neither do their parents.
While the government might provide more resources to the women chosen, such as better food, clothing, and living conditions, these women are subjected to extreme sexual abuse. In a video by Dimple, Shim Ha-Yun, a North Korean defector who was once a tour guide within North Korea, described what members of the pleasure squad were forced to do for Kim Jong-Il. She starts by outlining how different groups of girls were in charge of different aspects of entertainment. For example, one set of women was in charge of administering massages, while another was musically trained and would perform, and another was required to engage in sexual acts. In service to Kim Jong-Il, Shim details how some pleasure squad members were made to attend secret parties with government elites and dance with garments that “barely covered their bodies.” Kim would instruct women to remove pieces of clothing and to expose themselves to himself and his guests.
The pleasure squad is still functioning to this day. In 2015, The Chosunilbo reported that Kim Jong-Un was actively searching for women to join his own pleasure squad. This group in its nature can be considered an integral aspect of the North Korean government. It is highly likely that if the government continues to utilize this group, many more generations of North Korean women will be subject to growing amounts of sexual abuse and coercion by government officials and powerful elites.