Soldiers
stationed with the 5th Corps of the Chosun People’s Army (KPA) in southeast North
Korea are being offered extended
leave in exchange for quantities of beans, an inside source in Yangkang Province reported to
Daily NK on July 15th.
“Military units
have been struggling to secure stocks of beans because of last year’s floods in
Gangwon Province,” the source explained, “so they’re offering up to six months
leave to anyone who can bring them 500kg of beans.”
As famine and malnourishment spread like wildfire through North Korea in the latter half of the 1990s, the KPA responded by granting officers 10-20 days
leave at a time for the purpose of acquiring provisions and 1-3 months for ordinary
soldiers to recover from malnourishment. However, it has never been common practice to offer leave in exchange for supplies of specific goods.
The
reason for the decision stems from a visit from the top, it appears. “Military units have been obliged to guarantee
bean supplies for their soldiers since a directive was handed down by Kim Jong
Eun in January this year,” the source elaborated. “[To ensure that] military
units adhere to this policy, inspections are being carried out not only by the
General Logistics Bureau [of the Ministry
of People’s Armed Forces], but also by the General Political Department [of the
KPA] as well.”
According
to a KCNA report published in January this year, when he visited the General
Logistics Bureau Kim Jong Eun “underlined the need to bring about a radical
turn in improving the living standards of service personnel.” The bureau “must play the vanguard role in improving the living
standards of service personnel,” he apparently commented.
Daily
NK’s source asserted that the 5th Corps has taken the step of offering extended
leave to personnel in an attempt to curry favour by achieving compliance with Kim’s
instructions.
Needless to say, however, the
emphasis on beans as a source of sustenance for the KPA did not start with Kim
Jong Eun; it dates back at least as far as the 1980s, when Kim Jong Il
took over as Commander-in-Chief of the KPA. Kim stressed a three-pronged
approach to army life: beans as food to nourish the troops, basketball for
physical training, and playing cards during free time.
The call
to “supply ample beans” to soldiers continued in the 2000s, and now the Kim Jong Eun era has brought still greater stress on the
importance of beans to bolster physical health. The KPA solves many of its food
security issues directly through farming in situ, and beans are one of the easiest
things to grow, they’re also cheap, and are rich in nutrients.
However, flooding
around Gangwon Province last year resulted in serious damage to bean crops. For four
days beginning on July 10th that year, the province was pounded with
420mm of rain, memorably taking lives in a landslide at the construction site
of Masikryong Ski Resort. This left the province’s units short of supplies.
According
to Daily NK sources, on July 14th the going rate for a kilo of beans in North Korea was
roughly 5,000-5,500 KPW, the same as for rice. This price places the option of purchasing a quantity of beans at the market price beyond the reach of less fortunate soldiers.
The
source revealed public concern at this emphasis on beans, and the incentive it
provides to steal from farms and private plots. “Already people are chattering
about how ‘cooperative farms here are going to be beset by KPA thieves’,” she said.
