Residents of flood-hit North Hamgyong Province visit relatives for food

The North Korean regime has recently been reporting on its provision of new homes to residents in flood-damaged North Hamgyong Province. On KCTV, the state-run television channel, a resident was shown coming close to tears with joy during the interview. But it can be assumed that the authorities have selected all the interviewees and prepared a script for them in advance. 

The funny thing is, a lot of North Koreans with whom I spoke believe that a woman who shouted, “Long live the Korean Workers’ Party,” and “Long live Marshal Kim Jong Un” with tears on TV was actually crying with grief rather than joy. They say that she must have been distressed as her hard-earned belongings were all swept away by the water, and now all she has is a large pot and a few blankets. 

Yes, most residents of North Hamgyong Province are said to be experiencing hardship. They are dealing with unprecedented flood damage and a lot of people are still missing. Adding to their burden is the fact that they don’t have enough food. Some people need to visit their relatives to ask for food or arrange items on credit with residents of neighboring regions.

They cannot rely on the authorities for food, although it’s supposed to be provided by the provincial authorities. But the provisions are not fairly distributed, which is causing rising complaints among the residents.

Currently, they are said to be surviving on flour and instant noodles supplied by the International Red Cross, along with basic items donated from across the country. They are feeling uneasy, not knowing how long the current state of affairs will last. Many people are reportedly buying used clothes on credit at nearby markets or from vendors, because they don’t have enough warm clothes for the winter. 

The North Korean people no longer believe the empty promises made by the authorities. The regime has been telling lies to the people for decades, so the propaganda now has little effect. Instead they depend on smuggling operations from China or run their own business. Most of the residents in the border area are closely linked with smugglers, so they sometimes ask Chinese traders for help, especially because smuggling has declined at the moment.

As you can imagine, these people are having to focus all their effort on trying to survive. Some markets in the flood-damaged regions seem to have returned to normal, but shopping at the markets remains unachievable for many of the residents who lost all their savings during the flood.

The market prices in North Hamgyong Province were thought to be affected by flood damage, but in actual fact, they have mostly remained unaffected. In Musan County, one kilo of rice was selling at 5400 KPW last week, and is now being sold at 5300 KPW. The price has fallen slightly, but people aren’t particularly impressed by it. 

Many are reportedly saying, ‘What difference does it make if the rice price falls when we don’t have any money to buy it?” I felt sorry to hear it, and thought that more people may attempt to defect in order to earn some money. But it saddened me to hear that the regime is strengthening its surveillance and controls in such dire circumstances.

Yes, the new state-supplied homes have no fences, although most North Korean houses, except for apartments, have fences. Fences are especially necessary for rural houses where people raise domestic animals, and are also needed to prevent thieves. People must be feeling uneasy with their new fenceless homes, as they have to store some of their belongings in the open yard. 

So residents are said to be buying planks, nails, and screens (made from reed) to fashion their own makeshift fences around their houses. This suggests that there will be a lot of people planning to build their fences in the spring. The floodstricken North Hamgyong Province is not an urban area, and a lot of the residents raise domestic animals, which makes it even more important for them to have fences. For this reason, planks and nails have reportedly been popular in the market for some time. The price for planks and nails depends on their size. In Hoeryong market, a plank is being sold at 1300 KPW, while it was previously sold at 1000 KPW before the flood.