RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR NORTH KOREAN SOCIETY http://www.goodfriends.or.kr/[email protected] Weekly Newsletter No.336 March 2010 [“Good Friends” aims to help the North Korean people from a humanistic point of view and publishes “North Korea Today” describing the way the North Korean people live as accurately as possible. We at Good Friends also hope to be a bridge between the North Korean people and the world.] ___________________________________________________________________________ [Hot Topics] North Korean Residents Miss the Time of the Great Leader “Even I Would Not Do It Like That,” a female peddler says about the currency reform – Citizens and officials agree that currency reform failed [Food] Kimchaek Steel Mill, 1 kg of Corn Noodles is Used to Provide Lunch for Twelve [Economy] Trade Department Delayed Importing 1,000 tons of Provisions for Lack of Budget [Politics] The Public Prosecutors Office in North Hamgyong Province is Investigating Trade Companies that Raised Food Market Price Brutal Beating on a Robber at Mangyangdong Police Substation, Hoeryong [Society] Excessive Non-tax Burden on Top of Already Difficult Daily Life [Women/Children/Education] More Freshmen Dropping out from Cho Gunsil College of Education, Wonsan City [Accidents] Five to Six Robbery Cases Reported in Onchun County Daily [Editorial] Save People First with Humanitarian Food Aid ___________________________________________________________________________ [Hot Topics] North Korean Residents Miss the Time of the Great Leader Some residents in provincial cities as well as in Pyongyang yearn for the time of the Great Leader. Bokhee Kang (alias), a resident in Pyongsung, South Pyongan Province commented that “the Great Leader was good at politics,” stating that “in 1960-70s we had many innovators, high economic growth, and good living conditions.” Minbok Kim (alias), a resident in Hamheung, South Hamgyong Province also agreed that the time of the Great Leader was better stating that “the Great Leader pointed out 100 consumables items and he even calculated the price of a single needle. He produced a large number of innovators by providing a good mixture of political recognitions and monetary rewards.” By contrast “now we only have political recognitions but no accompanying monetary rewards in people’s economy because of the increasing emphasis and investment in national defense since the 1980s. The current leaders lost the support of the people because they have paid very little attention to and expenditures for the people’s economy. Now we have made nuclear weapons and become a strong military nation, the current leaders thought it was time to take care of the public sentiment and thus executed the national economic measure but they did not prepare well for it,” and thus indirectly criticized the currency reforms at issue. Meanwhile, the Central Party carefully monitors the public sentiment “missing the time of the Great Leader.” One party official in Pyongyang commented that “in times of the Arduous March, many people yearned for the Great Leader’s time. Since 2000, the Central Party has absolutely prohibited such public sentiment because it means we are doing worse than the period of the Great Leader. Thus, it is a real problem that such public sentiment is arising again.” “Even I Would Not Do It Like That,” a female peddler says about the currency reform – Citizens and officials agree that currency reform failed As living standards collapsed following the currency reform, the population, ranging from high-ranking officials to ordinary citizens, had a lot to say. The citizens believe the currency exchange policy was mostly a failure. Many people who were barely making a living from daily peddling income have lost their jobs. While they survive by eating porridge or a ground mixture of corn and corncob, others are dying of hunger. The state-run factories ceased operating because the price of the raw materials is not right, and the distribution of commodities became even more difficult. The markets and state-run stores are not operating efficiently because prices are too high. As a result, voices of dissatisfaction are growing. The citizens say that “the mere fact that dissatisfaction is rising among the people means that the currency exchange has failed.” A woman who peddles in the market says openly, “Even I would not do the currency exchange like that if someone asked me about it. Whoever did it did a pathetic job”. Since the middle of January, people were starving to death in various regions, but no national resolution was announced. The officers who organized and managed the currency exchange reform are being severely criticized in these regions. Intensive criticisms have been voiced such as, “The government officials whose lives are provided by the state just have no idea about the lives of poverty-stricken people. These utterly ignorant officials who do not even know the basics of the economy came up with a surprise policy after an armchair argument, took temporary gains and led the economy into a state of disaster, thereby pushing the lives of the people into distress. They cannot rectify the mistake even if they lay down their lives.” One officer from the Central Party expressed his confusion, “In the past, it used to be difficult for other regions to issue these complaints to the Central Party, but the Central Party cannot disregard them anymore these days. The national situation has become worse, so if the Party disregards or criticizes the complaints even to the slightest degree, it would cause national chaos.” He too believed that the policy failed, saying, “It is true that the Central Party had made an error in judgment. It naively thought that if it announces a currency exchange reform and eliminates markets, the wealthy people will go down and all the commodities will appear in the state-run stores.” [Food] Kimchaek Steel Mill, 1 kg of Corn Noodles is Used to Provide Lunch for Twelve The food situation is still difficult for the workers at Kimchaek Steel Mill in Chungjin, North Hamgyong Province. They were supposed to receive corn from the Hoeryong Farm Management Committee in exchange for fertilizer and vinyl, which they received as a payment for exporting pig iron. However, much of the corn was lost because transportation difficulties delayed the delivery of the corn. The executive officials worry about the ongoing food shortage, saying, “More people will die if this food shortage continues.” Workers are supposed to go home for lunch, but few do so because there is nothing else to eat at home. Thus, most of them eat corn noodles at the company-run cafeterias. When 1 kg of corn noodle is soaked in water, it can feed up to twelve people. However, the Kimchaek Steel Mill calculates the amount of lunch tickets a worker used and deducts that amount from the worker’s food ration. Workers don’t even eat for free, nor is the meal sufficient enough. Yet, they feel that eating the corn noodles is better than starving at home. After the workers finish the meager meals, they lie down in the break room and try to hold their hunger. They resume their work at 2:00 p.m. and finish at 7:00 p.m. They complain that their situation is no different from prison laborers since they work long hours and suffer from hunger. [Economy] Trade Department Delayed Importing 1,000 tons of Provisions for Lack of Budget A high-ranking official from the Trade Department has disclosed that the Department is planning to import 1,000 tons of unglutinous rice, but is facing serious financial issues. It will be unable to purchase the rice, imported into Nampo, at the price the Chinese have offered of 410 dollars/ton. However, if the unglutinous rice is imported, it will be distributed to poor families first. [Politics] The Public Prosecutors Office in North Hamgyong Province is Investigating Trade Companies that Raised Food Market Price The Public Prosecutor’s office in North Hamgyong Province arrested trade companies which had stored food during January and February until the market price increased. The companies investigated had conspired with the wealthy to increase inflation. Six trade officers were arrested in Chungjin in total. The officers had not released food even though they had tens of tons in their warehouses. Residents of Chungjin City said that “even the people who had money could not buy food because trade companies were not willing to sell them” and “they are guilty of just looking at people starving to die even if they obviously knew how people had hard time getting food.” Brutal Beating on a Robber at Mangyangdong Police Substation, Hoeryong Recently, the number of robberies and murders has sharply increased mainly because of food shortage. A robbery occurred in Inkyeri, Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province around 10 p.m. on February 27. A robber beat a police officer, who was riding his bike home, with a stick and attempted to steal the bike. However, the officer, who was fortunately not severely injured, could easily catch the robber by firing warning shots. The robber was a worker at the `July 7 Factory’ in Eunduk County. His wife fled to China two years ago, and left him with an 8-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son. His harsh livelihood drove him to commit the robbery in order to feed his children. While interrogating him, the Mangyangdong Police Substation severely beat and injured him. He, who already starved so long and thus weak, could not even move because of the brutal beating. The Mangyangdong Police Substation notified the Eunduk Police Station to take him over but only heard from the Station that because he can’t even sit by himself, they will take him once he recovers enough to walk on his own.