Autumn is the season of kimchi in North Korea – pickling cabbage, which is the basis of the diet. This year, however, there is a shortage of vegetables after a series of typhoons and floods. Prices rose by 25 percent. The harvest goes to the military and government organizations. People are looking for discarded heads so that they do not remain empty-handed.
North Korea is in the middle of a so-called 80-day battle – a mobilization of workers to consolidate commitment to the Kim dynasty. In essence, it is a matter of forced labor to announce greater production before major political events, such as the ruling party’s January Congress.
Ms. Kchang Mi-chin took part in many productivity battles before fleeing North Korea to the south. While digging the tunnel, she worked twelve hours a day with a stone crusher as heavy as she did. The rock hit her in the head and scalped. “I tell myself that if they forced us to work so hard, they could have given us at least some pay,” says Kchang refugee.
He says that in the 1980s, North Koreans were willing to work overtime because the ration system worked. After the famine in the 1990s, when hundreds of thousands of people died, enthusiasm waned. As a leader, women bribed her with clothes and meat to avoid construction work. “North Koreans are used to it. They know that if they complain, they will not help themselves, “adds Kchang.
–
In addition to extraordinary battles, the government mobilizes people every spring and fall to plant, weed and reap. For example, Heo Jung-chol fled in 2002 and experienced hundreds of such campaigns. “It simply came to our notice then. You will survive in North Korea if you steal hundreds of millions, but if you complain to the government, you end up in a camp with the whole family, ”explains Heo.
Experts doubt that the campaigns will solve the country’s economic problems under sanctions. Factories do not work due to lack of electricity and material. But in difficult times, the leader needs to consolidate power. People repair roads and don’t have time to think.
– .
