Even though entering North Korea has become more possible, it is still difficult to access to regions outside of the usual authorized areas, namely Pyongyang, Kaesong, the Geumgang Mountain region and Baekdu Mountain. In the case that one is granted permission to visit another area, opportunities to visit the countryside are exceptionally rare. Because of the
glaring disparity in standard of living discernible between the rural regions
and cities in North Korea, the authorities take extra efforts to shield them
from the eyes of outsiders.
Incidentally, I had the occasion to witness
a sliver of the North Korean countryside in 2006, while on the invitation of a
North Korean state agency to attend an event there. Departing Pyongyang by bus, we took the highway in the direction of Kaesong,
until suddenly veering off onto an unpaved, country path halfway into the trip.
Along this dirt road I saw scores of North Korean people wearing ragged clothing
that hung off their bodies as they walked around roads that were clearly
poorly maintained–if at all. Being Korean myself and seeing my brethren in these conditions
was heartbreaking.
It took more than hour to arrive at our
destination, and after staring out the window for awhile I was overcome by the
sudden feeling that I could easily be in the Middle East; in the past, I
traveled to Iraq, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Israel, and other
countries in the region for work. The memories I have from my time there remain
vivid and the North Korean countryside I witnessed on that trip was strikingly
similar.
Why would North Korea remind me of the
Middle East? I thought of plausible explanations for this unexpected
parallel my mind kept drawing and two chief reasons emerged.
First, the mountains in these areas of
North Korea were devoid of trees. As most areas in the Middle East are arid,
trees generally only occur near permanent bodies of water and are not seen with much frequency.
Second, every village I saw in North Korea
housed mammoth portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. I
recalled that many of the areas I visited in the Middle East countries had not
yet been democratized and in many areas the likeness of a nation’s supreme leader featured prominently. These paintings, ubiquitous in North Korean villages, reflect the
specificity of North Korean power: a totalitarian dynastic system. But still, why are there no trees filling the mountains?
 Image: KCTV |
It comes down to the fact that a more
efficient and effective heating system has yet to be resolved. In winter,
residents who lack materials with which to heat their homes, have no choice but
to head to the mountainside and cut down the trees to obtain firewood. This
practice has increased since the “Arduous March” [the North Korean famine of the mid-1990s]. At first people found
sufficient sources of firewood by cutting down trees in areas adjacent to the
villages, but as time passed they were forced to head to higher altitudes to
procure wood.
This has largely contributed to creating a
country with strikingly bare mountains.
 Image: KCTV |
Reforestation Efforts
Consequently, the authorities announced the
beginning of nationwide afforestation efforts after Kim Jong Eun’s speech on February 27th, wherein he underscored that the “Party, Army, and citizenry must fight to “to
turn the whole country into a thick woodland and greenery,” in a battle
against nature.
This was closely followed by the young leader’s recent visit to and tree-planting activities at a KPA unit on March 2nd, which marks Tree Planting Day.
 Image: KCTV |
“We must resolve the problem of the trees
that the people plucked to our mountains during the Arduous March,” Kim reportedly declared during the onsite visit. The young leader
does not feign unawareness of the origins behind this dire deforestation. And
yet, he has taken no measures to designate specific forests for firewood,
increase coal provisions, utilize methane gas, or consider countless other options to
solve the nation’s chronic energy issues.
Planting trees is certainly a good start:
denser vegetation covering the mountains will purify the air and prevent
landslides during monsoon season.
Nevertheless, these efforts show a leader
who does not seek to improve overall quality of life in North Korea–no matter how ardently he pushes for afforestation, it is merely a patch for the problem, not a resolution of its underlying causes.
*Views expressed in Guest Columns do not necessarily reflect those of Daily NK.
