{"id":2285,"date":"2016-05-05T20:06:55","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T11:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang-2\/2016\/05\/report\/20160504-mobilized-for-forced-labor\/"},"modified":"2018-08-24T18:21:32","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T09:21:32","slug":"20160504-mobilized-for-forced-labor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2016\/05\/news\/20160504-mobilized-for-forced-labor\/","title":{"rendered":"Delinquent Juveniles Mobilized For Forced Labor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mobilized<\/a>

Mobilized Storm Trooper of the Youth Union for construction of 100,000 households in Pyongyang. Taken by Koo Gwang-ho at Daedonggang District in August 2011.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Youth Union(*), an umbrella social group of DPRK Worker\u2019s Party, is strictly checking teenagers for their cloths or whether they have put on Kim Il-sung badge at market places or on street since March. Violators are often moved to remote region for labor without a chance to notify their family. The parents of the detainees are protesting together at the Party office. Followings are reports from reporting partners in North Korea. (ISHIMARU Jiro\/ Kang Ji-won)<\/p>\n

\u25c6<Blue jeans, piercing, and ponytail prohibited><\/h2>\n

Our reporting partner in North Hamkyung Province said \u201csubjects of control are tight pants such as jeans (called \u2018pants without line\u2019), dyed hair with yellow or brown color (\u2018soaked in capitalist culture\u2019).\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a similar report from Yanggang Province. Reporting partner B in Hyesan City reported the target costumes for cracking down are as follows; \u201cBlue jeans, tight cloths, ponytail hair style and dying are the subject of control. Earrings are fine but piercing is prohibited. They also check on whether they are wearing Kim Il-sung badge or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u25c6Caught juveniles are sent to force labor<\/h2>\n

The reality is that the caught juveniles are legally arrested and sent to the labor site. \u2018A\u2019 said \u201cStorm Trooper office of the Youth Union detains caught youth up to 30 and then sent them to \u20186.18 Storm Trooper\u2019 in Kangwon Province.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Storm Trooper\u2019 is a labor force formed to work for large construction projects of the nation. They are organized and managed under the Youth Union and workplaces as a work force for the construction of rail way, power plants, and so on.<\/p>\n

\u20186.18 Storm Trooper\u2019, belonging directly to the Worker\u2019s Party, was organized by the order of Kim Jong-il to construct Samjiyon District on June 18, 1999. Each workplace gets the allotment of personnel to dispatch and the base is Kangwon Province.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Footage<\/a>

Footage of \u20186.18 Storm Trooper\u2019 on Chosun Central TV. There are large number of people with light cloths and without helmets. The broadcast boasted the achievement of human wave strategy. September 2004.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c6Group protesting by parents to get their kids back.<\/h2>\n

\u2018A\u2019 continues \u201cThe caught juveniles, regardless of their gender, are sent to the trooper office without a chance to notify their family. Parents, being<\/span> worried about their kids who didn\u2019t come back home, can finally learn where their kids are when they are informed to go to the Youth Union from the securities office.<\/p>\n

ASIA Press asked another reporting partner \u2018C\u2019 in North Hamkyung Province for investigation and got a reply on April 12: \u201cThe parents couldn\u2019t just sit and wait when their kids are arrested. Every day they shout or cry out to get their kids back in front of XX District Party office. There was a group protest of 15 parents on April 2. The Party notifies the arrest of the kids to their parents who are police officer, high ranking official, or rich and requires them to pay a fine of 800,000 won (U$100) for the release of those kids. Poor parents are wailing and protesting; Is it right to take those kids from families without power like a piece of luggage? An acquaintance, whose daughter was arrested, said that he was told from the security office, \u201cEducate your kid well! If you want to see her, go to \u20186.18 Storm Trooper.\u2019<\/p>\n

What on earth is \u20186.18 Storm Trooper\u2019? Reporting partners explain as follows;<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were taken there, you have to work for six months at least. It is a military life. The Youth Union sends violators of public morals to the Trooper as they can hardly find any applicants for them. (\u2018B\u2019)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe detainees become half-dead as they have to work long hours for a lightening construction with a meager meal with salt soup. This is my first time to see this kind of ruthless mobilization (for the Storm Trooper). It seems certain that there was an order from the superior office since the mobilization is happening everywhere.\u201d (\u2018A\u2019)<\/p>\n

\u25c6Is the mobilization for the lightening construction for the preparation of the Party Conference?<\/h2>\n

Why do they use such an unreasonable measure to send the juveniles to the enforced labor? One of the reasons seems that the authorities want to tighten discipline of the society for the upcoming the Party Conference in May.<\/p>\n

Market economy has expanded in North Korea during the last twenty years silently. With permeating overseas information, capitalists\u2019 decadent culture, so called \u2018Yellow culture\u2019 by the North Korean Government, permeated among the youth who are admiring South Korean and Chinese fashion style.<\/p>\n

The Party\u2019s agency in charge of social order may be criticized or punished if there would be any disorder before the coming first Party Conference in 36 years, at which Kim Jong-un would preside by himself. Being pressed, they strictly try to crack down on public morals of the youth.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Female<\/a>

Female members of the Storm Trooper are also working for 3-5 years at the construction site. Quite a number of women are reported to be experiencing a halt of menstruation because of malnutrition. Taken by Koo Gwang-ho at Daedonggang District on August 2011 (ASIA PRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

The second reason is the short of applicants for the Trooper. North Korea experienced severe famine in the 90s, which resulted in decrease of young population. Young people try their best to avoid harsh life of three to five years at the Storm Trooper.<\/p>\n

Many young people used to apply for the Trooper in the past since, if they volunteered at the Trooper, there were rewards and payments such as a guaranty to be a member of the Worker\u2019s Party with a bight prospect in the future. But other opportunities to make money became available as market economy expanded. There is not much advantage by becoming a Party member any more.<\/p>\n

The authorities are performing several construction works to meet the deadline before the Party Conference in Pyongyang and other regions. More free workers are needed from the Storm Troopers and that is why they are using such an abnormal measure to recruit the youth.<\/p>\n

According to \u2018C\u2019, eight to ten parents are rallying every day to protest forced labor of their kids at the Party office, citing \u201cWhat a lawless world this is!\u201d<\/p>\n

*The formal title of the Youth Union is \u2018The Youth Union of Kim Il-sung Socialism.\u2019 It is comprised of non party members with ages from fourth grade in middle school (16 years old) to 30 years old.<\/p>\n

* Storm trooper is a labor force formed to work for large construction projects of the nation. It is \u00a0organized and managed from the Youth Union and workplaces, which would be mobilized for the construction of rail way and power plants, and so on. While it looks like a volunteer system, it is almost a compulsory as the authorities allocate number of personnel to join in the force from each organization and workplace. The duration lasts from 3 to 5 years and the organization resembles the military system. The Youth Union is a wide spread roots organization with more than twenty \u2018Youth Battalion of Storm Trooper\u2019 from Pyongyang and other regions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Rimjingang_banner001\"<\/a>*\u00a0Editor\u2019s notes on North Korean reporters<\/a>
<\/a>ALL REPORTS >>><\/a> <\/strong><\/span>
ARCHIVE(pdf) >><\/a><\/span>
DPRK MAP >><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Youth Union(*), an umbrella social group of DPRK Worker\u2019s Party, is strictly checking teenagers for their cloths or \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2285"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}