{"id":5870,"date":"2022-06-25T22:53:21","date_gmt":"2022-06-25T13:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=5870"},"modified":"2022-06-29T16:46:18","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T07:46:18","slug":"tosei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2022\/06\/society-economy\/tosei\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e The Kim Jong-un regime orders city dwellers to the farms to make up for lost time"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(File Photo) A female farmer carrying a large bag. This photo was taken by ASIAPRESS\u2019s Jang Jung-gil in October 2008 in an agricultural area on the outskirts of Pyongyang.<\/p><\/div>\n

The spread of COVID-19 in North Korea began in early May, right when full-fledged efforts started on the transplanting and seeding of rice nationwide. Bans on movement made it impossible for urban North Koreans to be mobilized to agricultural areas. The land on collective farms were full of weeds.<\/p>\n

Only after the lifting of lockdowns and bans on movement in mid-June did the Kim Jong-un regime mobilize urban North Koreans to farms as part of efforts to make up for lost time.<\/p>\n

\u25c6 Mobilized workers work from early morning as \u201ccommuters\u201d or as part of labor brigades<\/h2>\n

\u201cA,\u201d an ASIAPRESS reporting partner in a city in North Hamgyung Province reported: \u201cEveryone is being mobilized. Inminban and Socialist Women's Union members are being sent in rotation to the farms and working from the morning hours to 4 PM. Everyone must participate. People who return from work on the farms are given certificates showing their participation. If you don\u2019t have one of these, you can\u2019t buy things at the market. Of course, (the authorities) are strictly confirming the temperatures (of everyone being mobilized).\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u203b Inminban are North Korea\u2019s lowest administrative units and are made up of 20-40 households. The Socialist Women's Union is made up of non-working adult women, generally housewives.<\/p>\n

People are also being mobilized from various government organizations, factories, and enterprises. They are given select areas of a collective farm to work on along with quotas to complete. Some workers \u201ccommute\u201d to the farms, while others are there on a more permanent basis. In short, workplaces create \u201cagricultural area labor brigades\u201d to work on the farms until the end of the fall harvest.<\/p>\n

Another reporting partner in Yanggang Province told ASIAPRESS: \u201cThe focus now is on weeding. Farmers had to weed their land at night when people weren\u2019t being mobilized from the cities. There were also people who falsely claimed they had COVID-19 symptoms just to get out of the mobilizations.\u201d<\/strong>
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(File Photo) Farmers weeding by hand. This photo was taken in July 2021 on the Chinese side of the border. (ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c6 People are being stopped from farming on private plots<\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, the difficulties faced by farmers continues. \u201cA\u201d told ASIAPRESS that: \u201cThere\u2019s been an increase in food and money-short households, with many people suffering from edema on their faces due to malnutrition.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to \u201cA,\u201d farmers are allowed to farm private plots of land up to 100 pyong, but because there\u2019s not enough food distributed by the collective farms, people are farming in \u201chidden plots\u201d near mountains on top of their original private plots of land. These hidden plots of land are called sotoji, which the Kim Jung-un government has strongly cracked down on as part of efforts to protect the country\u2019s forests.<\/p>\n

Despite the crackdowns, farmers have avoided being caught by secretly cultivating beans or barley near reforested areas. However, even this is being frowned upon by the authorities this year. \u201cA\u201d provided further explanation about this:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf farmers stick to farming their own land, they don\u2019t do their work on the collective farms. There are people who cultivate crops on small plots of land deep in the mountains, but they face confiscation of everything if they are caught. If you\u2019re lucky, you can hand over 40% of your crop yield to the forestry management officer for him to turn a blind eye.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Farmers are facing food shortages due to exploitation and crackdowns by the authorities. (KANG Ji-won)<\/p>\n

\u203b ASIAPRESS communicates with reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.<\/p>\n

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