{"id":5893,"date":"2022-07-27T11:01:03","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T02:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=5893"},"modified":"2022-07-31T12:04:35","modified_gmt":"2022-07-31T03:04:35","slug":"interview-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2022\/07\/society-economy\/interview-woman\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInterview with a N. Korean Woman\uff1e \"I live with goats and pigs in my apartment\" The desperation driving people to raising animals at home"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A North Korean transporting a pig on a bicycle. The pig\u2019s legs are tied up, perhaps because it is still alive. This photo was taken by Kim Dong-chul in South Pyongan Province in June 2010. (ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

Many North Korean city dwellers are raising goats, pigs and chickens in their homes. With a drastic fall in economic activity and cash income due to the continuing pandemic, many people have turned to raising domesticated animals to earn money. ASIAPRESS recently interviewed a female reporting partner living in the northern part of Ryanggang Province about this. (KANG Ji-won<\/em>)<\/p>\n

\u25c6 Amid poor business conditions, people stop selling goods in markets<\/h2>\n

\u2015\u2015 Why are people raising domesticated animals?<\/strong>
\nThere continues to be a decrease in the number of people doing business in local markets. Business is bad and they would still have to pay fees to maintain their stalls, so an increasingly number of people are abandoning market-based businesses and shifting to raising domesticated animals to sell.<\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 What kind of domesticated animals are people raising?<\/strong>
\nChickens are standard, and people also raise pigs, rabbits and goats. Goats produce milk, and people sell it for high prices. There are a lot of people who sell goat milk to earn money. Goats are a popular animal to raise, and there\u2019s competition between people who raise them.<\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 What about people who live in apartments?<\/strong>
\nPeople raise the animals in apartments and one-story houses. It seems like nowadays all apartment dwellers are living with animals. Because it is summer, people have trouble because of the smell of animal poop and flies, but they raise the animals inside because they\u2019d be stolen if they are raised outdoors.<\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 How do people feed the animals?<\/strong>
\nNorth Koreans don\u2019t have enough food to eat themselves, so the hardest thing for them is to obtain feed for their animals. They feed pigs a mix of grass and human waste, and take goats outdoors to let them feed of weeds.<\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 Do people sell the meat from the animals they raise?<\/strong>
\nNo. They sell adult animals that are still alive. People don\u2019t have much income anymore, so everyone is taking great pains to raise the animals. The economy is bad, and the only remaining active market is in selling domesticated animals.<\/p>\n

Anyone can raise domesticated animals, so the price of meat has fallen about. Sometimes people even trade the animals for rice. It\u2019s hard for even me to keep track of what\u2019s going on with all the changes.<\/p>\n

\u25c6 Survey of market meat prices<\/h2>\n

Below are market prices for meat in two cities in North Korea. After the North Korean government acknowledged the outbreak of COVID-19 on May 12, the authorities implemented tight restrictions on travel between cities, which led to immense instability in market prices. As a result, the prices below reflect those collected in mid-April. All the products listed are domestically produced. Apart from chicken, is which is counted by the head, all prices are per kilogram. The currency in the table is North Korean won. At the time of the price survey, 1,000 North Korean won equaled 0.154 US dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nHyesan, Ryanggang Province<\/strong><\/td>\n \u201cCity A\u201d in North Hamgyung Province<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pork<\/td>\n24,000<\/td>\n22,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Goat Meat<\/td>\n15,000<\/td>\n13,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rabbit Meat<\/td>\n16,000<\/td>\n14,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Chicken Meat<\/td>\n16,000<\/td>\n14,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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

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