North Korea News Podcast by NK News - A North Korean’s murder in St. Petersburg, and a homecoming for DPRK troops

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

This week’s podcast kicks off with the 2003 murder case of a North Korean man in St. Petersburg, previously known as the “criminal capital” of Russia, and the unanswered questions surrounding his brutal death at the hands of a neo-Nazi group. NK News data correspondent Anton Sokolin then discusses North Korea’s reaction to Russian Ambassador […]

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Hello listeners and welcome to the NK News podcast. I'm your host, Jacko Zweetslut, and today it is Tuesday, the 16th of December 2025, and I'm joined here in the studio by Anton Sokolin. Anton, welcome back on the show. Hey, Jacob, how are you? We don't usually do truth crime on this podcast. I do like true crime podcast, but this is not one of them. But today we're going to do something a bit different.

We're going to delve into a true crime story involving North Korea, involving Russia, and see if we can make it interesting for the listeners. I guess, first of all, there's a murder, but 22 years ago. So it feels like a cold case, or at least a solved case. Why are we talking about this case this week? All right. It was quite unexpected when the Russian police actually announced that they had a new suspect in a 22-year-old case

that was supposedly closed many years ago. Right, because he's not the first subject. It's not the first suspect, and they just announced that they have this new man, that they suspect of participating in a group murder of a North Korean man. Right. So we're talking about it because the victim is North Korean. We don't know much about him. From your story, I gather he was born in Moscow, but he's North Korean.

So that's what our initial report says. Well, we should understand one thing. We don't have much, right, to go on. We basically have archival reports from Russia and a bit of reports from. South Korean media that also covered that back in 2003. So the murder happened in St. Petersburg, and this man reportedly was 42 years of age, and some people, some documentaries or media, they would call him either a student or just a resident of Moscow, who was also born in Moscow, and who, interestingly, had just received

his residency permit in Moscow as well. And he was traveling to San Petersburg over the weekend. And it all happened over one weekend on December 14th, 2003. And he had a lot of money on him. That's one thing that puzzled the investigators from the start, that he had about $10,000 on his person. And that, of course, was of note because he was brutally killed. He was beaten to death with metal pipes.

There were found around more than 20 stab wounds on him. It was very gruesome. But it involved a lot of personal contact with him, right? The murder... It was a fight. So it is very suspicious that they just left that money untouched and just took off. And this was not in US dollars, but it was in Russian roubles. So it was even larger than 10,000, right?

So it's a lot of notes, I'm guessing. Well, yeah, it's 300,000 rubles. Back then, it's a huge sum of money. Well, even now $10,000 is pretty substantial. But at that time, it's what we understand. Petersburg was a, well, back then we called it the criminal capital of Russia. Banditsky Petersburg, those listeners who are familiar with this, they will know, the bandy, gangster, St. Petersburg.

It was a famous TV series covering criminal developments back then in St. Petersburg. But regardless, getting back to the topic, it was a very dangerous city back then. It was a very dangerous wipe. And lots of neo-Nazi groups operated. It was a rise of basically neo-fascism, neo-Nazism, neo-Nazis. in Russia. And a lot of Russian ethno, sort of ethno-nationalist, you know, if you're not a white Slav, we don't want you here. Right. They were targeting non-Slavic minorities, and they didn't really differentiate or discriminate between local ones or those who are immigrants, right? So they

would target Asian people from Russia or immigrants like from Tajikistan. And this particular organization, it was called the Combat Terrorist Organization. They were notorious. They operated between 2003 and 2006, with which the police actually linked the case. And because the group was very vast, it contained multiple members, and it's very hard to determine which particular person killed whom at what specific point of time. But there were many deaths. There are many deaths. They have a substantial ruptured. So the police, they bundled all these little cases, sub-cases of each murder into one big lawsuit, right, like general case, and proceeded with it. So the band was practically, we can say disbanded in the band, the band,

but did they call it the band? The gang was disbanded in 2006, practically when the police tried to arrest one of its founders and they killed him in the process. The other co-founder of the organization, he kept on living, but the trial started in 2000. So they pretty much arrested everyone they could by that time and put them on trial. And it dragged on for a year. So in 2011, they finished the trial. And they basically said that this is it. The case of our North Korean man, Kim Hjohn-Ik, is included in this file, big file.

And it's all over. About 12 people got their criminal sentences. Some, of course, were two probably were exonerated. And some got sentences varying. sentences. So from life sentences to getting on on probation. Coming back to Kim Hyannik, how do we know that he's North Korean? What was his connection to the North Korean embassy or North Korean elite circles in Russia? So there's several things point in that direction, right? We cannot say for certain, but the fact that he was 42 years of age. And in 2003, so he must have been born in

1961. So that is the Soviet time, right? In Russia doesn't have this law of land. I don't know what it's called in English, but if you're born in Russia, it doesn't grant you a Russian citizenship. So there's no, it's called Solesterum or something. God, there is a term for that. Basically, if you're born in Russia, you're not automatically a Russian citizen. Yeah, it's not like the US. That's what I'm saying. Yeah.

We can look it up, but the point is he was unlikely a Soviet citizen and unlikely a Russian citizen. but it raises certain questions as to what kind of family he was born to and why he had so much money on him and how did he manage to have residency permit in Moscow? And well, all these connections they lead to Moscow and Moscow has a substantial North Korean embassy there with the vast network of diplomats and just thinking about the money, the residency permit that I reported residency permit, it is possible to conclude that the man wasn't just an ordinary student. He could have been a student. He could have been a PhD student for a instance.

Yeah, why not? It's possible. But it doesn't mean, it doesn't only mean that he was just an ordinary student. Ordinary North Koreans do not carry $10,000 on them. So that leads us to suspect that he was probably from a diplomatic family or even just somehow affiliated with the embassy. And if it's the case, it means he was very close to elite circles in the DPRK. And there's another reason to believe that.

And this is why we now fast forward to 22 years later this year, when suddenly there's a new arrest, possibly to placate the North Koreans. So that's the suspicion, right? Because if it is the case that he's from a very elite and, well, wealthy or high-profile family, then it's a high chance that they didn't, forget about his case. And they wanted... Which is that you mean the North Koreans?

The North Korean side. They didn't forget about his case. And they insisted on reopening it and then re-investigating. And it comes also on the heels of this extensive cooperation between Russia and North Korea in the criminal field, in the investigative field. Not the military, but also in investigation. Law enforcement, yes. For instance, just not so long ago, the North Korean law enforcement, several law enforcement

delegations actually visited Russia. and the Russian colleagues showed them around their labs and especially boasting of their DNA capabilities, DNA tracing capabilities, showing that they are able now to actually solve crimes that were committed as far back as like 30 years ago. So it's kind of CSI Moscow. CESI Moscow. In our case, it's St. Peter's very. But who have they arrested? And what's the connection?

So the connection is that they suspect this particular man, Sergenio, that he was part of this gang, the CTO, the Combat Terrorist Organization that I just mentioned earlier, an interesting fact is that his name never came up before during the investigation. So he expectedly pled not guilty, and he said that, yeah, basically he wanted to go under house arrest, but they sent him into an actual jail. His past is a bit murky. We don't know much. We know, though we know he is martial arts coach and basically kind of like an engineer,

construction worker working for the St. Petersburg Railroads. So which means that there is a possibility he was involved, but we think the police are trying to investigate these tangential links, whether he was really part of that group. And if he was, then it raises another question. How did they miss it in the first place? But that is also possible that, well, the Russian police might have known all alone who was involved and they just didn't bother of rounding up every single one of them. Two quick questions, because then we have to move on.

First of all, is there any evidence that he was found through DNA technology? No one said anything, but they just said that they had this operational measures in place to track him down and retrace the events of December 14, 2003. And the date of his arrest is almost exactly 22 years to the day after the murder, right? Yeah, it's no coincidence I mentioned in these dates several times, because It's exactly about this time. That's interesting. Gosh, okay, well, let's see how that, because that trial hasn't happened yet,

so let's see how that goes. Now, last week I talked to Chad about the late Russian ambassador to North Korea, Matsagora, who passed away recently at the age of, I think, 70. You've got some additional information for us? Yeah, right. So since then, when it happened, we needn't know the causes of his death. Now I see that... Or even, it wasn't announced where he died.

Where he died? Well, we know through informed sources that it took place in Pyongyang. We know also that his daughter flew in to Pyongyang to meet Kim Jong-in. Kim Jong-in offered his own condolences. He visited the embassy, kneeled in front of Matsugura's portrait. There was a very striking image. I saw that on the NK News website. That's something very, very unusual, right, to see the leader of North Korea bowing before the image of a dead foreigner.

It only speaks to the fact that Matsugura was very high up, and he was very much. important to this Russian North cooperation. Yeah. So apart from the fact that his family visited him, well, there were also questions about when are we here? When is the funeral? Are, is there going to be any farewell ceremony? Because in Russia, usually, usually in normal cases, it's three days. The person passes away and then three days after you're supposed to hold funeral. But in this case, since it involves a lot of logistics and moving things. And so it happened on December 6th, but only last Sunday, we learned that his farewell ceremony is going to be held. Actually, today on Tuesday, December 16th in Moscow in one of the hospitals. It's a big central clinical hospital. It's called, I remember Matsugura posting back on his Facebook back in 2003 a photo from that hospital,

supposedly from one of the windows of this hospital overlooking a park attached to the complex, to the healthcare complex. So probably it's, well, the farewell ceremony is going to be called there. But yeah, right now what I'm seeing is that Russian media circulating rumors that it was a heart attack. A heart attack. Okay, because he wasn't very old and he hadn't been sick for a long time. True. And it is a little bit, I would say, of note.

Yeah, it is very notable that he was very active. He visited Moscow just not long before that. He participated in several high-profile meetings. He opened a restaurant, the new North Korean restaurant in Moscow, and he was in a very good mood and a very good state. But, again, we don't know his medical details. Interesting. I imagine that the North Korean embassy in Moscow will obviously send a delegation to the farewell ceremony that you mentioned. We will see.

It's going to happen in a few hours from now. Right. Okay. Next story. Now, North Korean deminers have returned from Russia. They had a big ceremony there. It looked like at Kim Il-Song Square. Is that right?

It was in Kimmel-Song Square. It was April 25th Hotel Plaza. Oh, okay, okay. Right. But they were welcomed personally by Kim Jong-un who went and hugged some of them and thanked them. Tell us about that. So, yeah, as our listeners are aware, North Korea agreed to dispatch a thousand North Korean military engineers.

When we say military engineers, it usually means sepurs. Sepers means deminers. I'm just trying to get this term straight, that no one thinks that it's some military engineers that are going to be building bridges. It's not that. It's not that kind of a sample. Sergei Shogh, Russia's former defense minister, announced these plans in June,

saying that Kim Jong-in agreed to do that. Now we know that the decision was made as early as in May. Okay. It was this particular engineering regiment was formed on May 28th, hence its name, the 528th Regiment. And they were dispatched to Russia in August. But by September, we were dispatched to Russia. already knew from the course governor that they had started arriving. And now, according to Kim Janin,

the whole mission in the Kursk region took about 120 days, so we can say four months. I think we need to probably think of it as more of 90 days, because probably one month is for the logistics, for transporting them, and for training, because we do know that they didn't undertake a certain training with Russian instructors at Russian training grounds. Right. Now, I talked to somebody on this podcast recently and that my understanding was that the demining would take place using technology, right? So it's not like a man with a stick going out there and looking for a mine. But I did see in the photograph that some of the men looked to be injured, or at least in a wheelchair. Right. The mission didn't go, well, Kim Jong

credited the engineers with the mission, fulfilling the mission flawlessly, but they didn't go flawless, because there were nine fatalities. At least nine fatalities, we did see some perpetually, well, supposedly injured soldiers in wheelchairs at the reception, right, ceremony. Of course, demining doesn't only involve, you know, poking ground with the rod. Right. But we know that the Russian instructors trained them using remotely controlled robots, yeah, for demining. And of course, there was also. anti-drawing units that would protect their comrades who are actually demining the field from aerial attacks. So that was also in place, but as we can see, it wasn't all 100% bulletproof.

Now, I see that the miners are back now, but there's a separate story there that, I think, written by you, that the governor, of course, expects North Korean troops to return next spring. That's true. This news came out right after pretty much KCNA or Radon-Synmon announced, that they are back. He's said that the Kursk authorities, they would like to award medals to the most distinguished suppers. And they gave them some commemorative gifts upon their return, et cetera, et cetera. But he did say that the region is expecting them to come back in spring. And I, my guess, for more demining? For more demining. Not only demining, but I suppose generally to participate in recovery efforts because the infrastructure of the region was damaged during

the operation. The Ukrainians were there, then the Russians were there, people were displaced, so right now they are trying to rebuild it. Well, it's wintertime. Probably it's very hard to sweep grounds for mines when it's covered with one meter layer of snow. Maybe that's the That's the reason that they are not much of views there anymore. So let's wait for spring when the snow is gone and maybe we can reintroduce them there. I don't know what the reason was. But seems like, yeah, we might expect to see them there again. Now we've got exactly two minutes to tell the last story.

And this is one of Collins' work of stories. This is amazing. Colin did some analysis of satellite imagery and found that North Korean China are using 32 makeshift bridges. Now, makeshift, I mean, it could be a pontoon bridge or it could be a quick. bridge that you put up overnight, but these are not official crossing points over the border. Yes, practically, there's only a few official crossing points, and China still hasn't opened this big new yellow bridge. It's still there, it's already, but it's never been open. So at the same time, we're seeing this border activity, right?

Yes. What is it? Smuggling? Most likely, it's smuggling, and we know that China does sell a lot of sanction things to North Korea and gets other resources from North Korea. Like, for example, coal is one thing. And it comes on the heels of other investigations. We know that Chinese companies are promoting selling drone assembly lines to North Korea. Of course, there is also a big case of China, practically offloading its cars to North Korea. Old model cars? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that way North Korea gets cars, whereas the Chinese previous owners, they avoid whatever fees, taxes, or a responsibility for those cars. So by simply just selling it across the border. And plus we, of course, know that China supplies tractors, trucks. It's all there. All sanctioned? It all sanctioned because it's in the category of machinery, vehicles. And, of course, it's off limits.

At the same time, it's not very surprising because it has, two basically, one particular implication is that China has turned its back on the deeper case sanctions regime. But again, it is also evident from other cases, like for example, North Korean oil tankers, sanctioned oil tankers, cruising around Chinese waters and supposedly picking up oil, whereas North Korea's coal fleet offloading its coal in China. So there is a lot of sanctions tried going on and these bridges they only show it's just another dimension of how closely

they're actually operating and sometimes it's just below our radar and it takes Collins Wirko to look into this and find it out. Our eye in the sky Collins Wirko. It's an amazing story so subscribers to NKPro can go on and find the headline is North Korea, China using 32

makeshift bridges for extensive smuggling scheme. Remarkable work there. Anton thank you very much for coming on the podcast today. We'll see you soon and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you for having me. Merry Christmas. Bestsellers unveiled at NK News Shop. Step out in style with our top-selling apparel from the NK News Shop. Fly high with the Air Cordial T-shirt,

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Ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of our podcast episode for today. Our thanks go to Brian Betts and Alana Hill for facilitating this episode. to our post-recording, producer genius, Gabby Magnuson, who cuts out all the extraneous noises, awkward silences, bodily functions, and fixes the audio levels. Thank you and listen again next time.