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2017.06.28
| Won | Pyongyang | Sinuiju | Hyesan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exchange Rate | 8,070 | 8,050 | 8,095 |
| Rice Price | 5,800 | 6,000 | 5,900 |
Kim Jong Eun, who has been in power for two years, has turned his back on the people and their economic difficulties. The North Korean people, who had hoped for change, are now dissatisfied and hostile toward the system they live under. Daily NK has interviewed five recent arrivals to South Korea to gauge public opinion in the North. This piece is divided into three parts.
A recent arrival to South Korea, Kim Gwang Sik, using an alias, revealed to Daily NK, “Between close friends and family, people sneer at Kim Jong Eun and give him nicknames."
He went on, “When the people see the Kim Il Sung-impersonating propaganda, like Kim Jong Eun inspecting a farm with a farmer’s hat on, they comment sarcastically that imitating his grandfather isn’t going to return us to the Kim Il Sung era.”
“He throws absurd amounts of money into the construction of amusements and is obsessed with one-off political shows," Kim pointed out. "He is just like his father [Kim Jong Il]. I’ve heard people say that more pictures are taken of him than of Kim Jong Il in his day, all in order to deceive the people.”
Another second defector, Hwang Byung Ho (alias), a worker in his sixties who left North Korea in November last year, said, “Older generations feel increasingly disappointed at how he brings his wife Ri Sol Ju with him to public events and enjoys Western culture.”
“How would a novice who studied overseas and got influenced by Western culture like that know anything about politics? He might know a bit, but how much?” Hwang said, expressing his fears. “Contrary to his intention, people think Kim Jong Eun is actually promoting the ‘capitalist wind.’”
Elsewhere, former trader Lee Geum Sil (another alias) explained that there is growing criticism of the authorities for their policy of forced acquisition of rice for consumption by the military, too. Ordinary citizens are particularly angered at enhanced regulation of private corn and rice trading.
“People are critical, saying, ‘we work so hard on the farming but they tell us not to eat the fall harvest and give it up, so how are we meant to live?’” she explained. “‘Why is that guy [Kim Jong Eun] making our lives so tough?”
She added, “The movement to procure military food stocks has always been undertaken everywhere when harvest season comes, and at such times the private trading of food has been banned. But since Kim Jong Eun became leader, the ban has been more rigorous and people have really been suffering.”
He went on, “When the people see the Kim Il Sung-impersonating propaganda, like Kim Jong Eun inspecting a farm with a farmer’s hat on, they comment sarcastically that imitating his grandfather isn’t going to return us to the Kim Il Sung era.”
“He throws absurd amounts of money into the construction of amusements and is obsessed with one-off political shows," Kim pointed out. "He is just like his father [Kim Jong Il]. I’ve heard people say that more pictures are taken of him than of Kim Jong Il in his day, all in order to deceive the people.”
Another second defector, Hwang Byung Ho (alias), a worker in his sixties who left North Korea in November last year, said, “Older generations feel increasingly disappointed at how he brings his wife Ri Sol Ju with him to public events and enjoys Western culture.”
“How would a novice who studied overseas and got influenced by Western culture like that know anything about politics? He might know a bit, but how much?” Hwang said, expressing his fears. “Contrary to his intention, people think Kim Jong Eun is actually promoting the ‘capitalist wind.’”
Elsewhere, former trader Lee Geum Sil (another alias) explained that there is growing criticism of the authorities for their policy of forced acquisition of rice for consumption by the military, too. Ordinary citizens are particularly angered at enhanced regulation of private corn and rice trading.
“People are critical, saying, ‘we work so hard on the farming but they tell us not to eat the fall harvest and give it up, so how are we meant to live?’” she explained. “‘Why is that guy [Kim Jong Eun] making our lives so tough?”
She added, “The movement to procure military food stocks has always been undertaken everywhere when harvest season comes, and at such times the private trading of food has been banned. But since Kim Jong Eun became leader, the ban has been more rigorous and people have really been suffering.”
