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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 |
A significant proportion of the workers from Party and security agencies are getting themselves exempted from the annual call to take part in the potato harvest in northerly Yangkang Province, an inside source has informed Daily NK.
The source from the area reported to Daily NK on the 27th, “After the Chuseok holiday mobilization orders were sent out to enterprises. So, most employees were mobilized to dig potatoes in Daehongdan County and Manjungbo Farm in Baekam. However, some powerful departments didn’t go to the fields at all.”
According to the source, ordinary factory workers have for the most part been mobilized to the fields, but employees from provincial branches of the National Security Agency, People’s Safety Agency, Party offices and People’s Committees have not.
The use of money and/or power to avoid farm labor mobilization is certainly not a new phenomenon in the North, but the source asserted that absenteeism on this scale, featuring whole agencies, remains unusual.
“General laborers have to go out to the fields, and they receive just a few kilograms of potatoes in return. But those employed in by powerful agencies don’t have to suffer the inconvenience; they just pay the price to get out of it,” the source added.
“People point out people who get out of work by currying favor with the powerful, saying that their outside is nicer than their inside,” the source alleged, continuing, “Those cadres live easily, but it’s the difficult reality in Chosun that ordinary laborers, who have neither money nor authority, get mobilized for this and that year after year.”
The “fees” for exemption are relatively high, ranging from 150,000 to 180,000 won. Some of the money is spent on buying beverages and alcohol for workers in the fields, and rent-seeking officials take some, the source explained.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun reported on the 26th that the potato harvest had begun in Daehongdan County in Yangkang Province, stating proudly that, contrary to the source’s claim, “Cabinet and Central Party workers are actively volunteering.”
The source from the area reported to Daily NK on the 27th, “After the Chuseok holiday mobilization orders were sent out to enterprises. So, most employees were mobilized to dig potatoes in Daehongdan County and Manjungbo Farm in Baekam. However, some powerful departments didn’t go to the fields at all.”
According to the source, ordinary factory workers have for the most part been mobilized to the fields, but employees from provincial branches of the National Security Agency, People’s Safety Agency, Party offices and People’s Committees have not.
The use of money and/or power to avoid farm labor mobilization is certainly not a new phenomenon in the North, but the source asserted that absenteeism on this scale, featuring whole agencies, remains unusual.
“General laborers have to go out to the fields, and they receive just a few kilograms of potatoes in return. But those employed in by powerful agencies don’t have to suffer the inconvenience; they just pay the price to get out of it,” the source added.
“People point out people who get out of work by currying favor with the powerful, saying that their outside is nicer than their inside,” the source alleged, continuing, “Those cadres live easily, but it’s the difficult reality in Chosun that ordinary laborers, who have neither money nor authority, get mobilized for this and that year after year.”
The “fees” for exemption are relatively high, ranging from 150,000 to 180,000 won. Some of the money is spent on buying beverages and alcohol for workers in the fields, and rent-seeking officials take some, the source explained.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun reported on the 26th that the potato harvest had begun in Daehongdan County in Yangkang Province, stating proudly that, contrary to the source’s claim, “Cabinet and Central Party workers are actively volunteering.”
