Report: Two killed, one injured in North Korea border city

July 24 (UPI) -- Two people were murdered in a North Korean border city and another person was stabbed sometime in mid-July, according to a South Korean press report.

A source in North Korea's Ryanggang Province told Daily NK the North Korean authorities are investigating the case but are having "difficulties" arresting the suspect.

"On an evening in mid-July at around 8 p.m. in Wi Yon Dong, Hyesan, the husband of the neighborhood office chief was alone at his house when he was murdered," Daily NK's source said.

"The criminal had tied the chief's husband with rope, and had stabbed him [to death] in several places with a knife."

The source went on to say the suspect also went into the house next door and stabbed an elderly individual.

The second victim may have been killed after he heard moans from the adjacent house, and peered in to take a look.

A third victim, a woman, was stabbed in the thigh as she tried to run away.

People nearby were able to take the woman to a hospital. Her condition is not life threatening, Daily NK's source said.

North Korea's border areas are the launching point of defections.

A few days before the stabbing incident occurred, a family of four fled Hyesan for Changbai, China, Radio Free Asia reported.

North Korean border guards helped them defect, RFA's North Korea source said in around mid-July.