It’s time for our weekly series
“Market Roundup” with special correspondent and economic specialist
Kang Mi Jin. Today we’ll discuss the latest trends and news from the North
Korean economy. First, I’ll ask Ms. Kang to give us a general overview of what
has been happening in the past week.
Hello. Thanks for having me. I will start
by surveying conditions at the jangmadang, including changes to the price of
rice and the currency conversion rate. Rice was trading at 5,000 KPW per kg in
Pyongyang, Hyesan, and Sinuiju last week. The value of the dollar was 8,100 KPW
in Pyongyang, 8,200 KPW in Sinuiju, and 8,400 KPW in Hyesan. This represents a
slight rise compared with weeks past. As a result of this, corn kernels tradeed at
1,600 KPW per kg in Siniuju and Pyongyang and 1,700 KPW in Hyesan. Pork traded
for 12,500 KPW per kg in Pyongyang, 12,000 KPW per kg in Sinuiju, and 13,500
KPW per kg in Hyesan. Now for gas prices. The cost of petroleum was 10,500 KPW
per kg in Pyongyang and Sinuiju, and 11,000 KPW per kg in Hyesan. Diesel oil
was trading at 8,000 KPW per kg in Pyongyang, 8,500 KPW per kg in Sinuiju, and
9,000 KPW per kg in Hyesan.
Kim Il Sung’s birthday was on April 15th. According
to an inside source, the candies and gifts dispersed to all the children to
celebrate the Day of the Sun are getting cold treatment in the marketplace. I
now turn to Market Specialist Mijin Gang to inquire why residents and
particularly traders are looking down on the gifts.
1. In North Korea, the Suryeong’s birthday
is a huge deal, so it’s a bit strange to imagine that the gifts dispersed by
the regime are showing up at the jangmadang for trading. Can you talk to us a
bit about that?
I’d be glad to. Kim Jong Eun’s regime has a
policy of dispersing 1 kg of candy and snacks to each child on the Suryeong’s
birthday or Day of the Sun. The treats, which were once treated as precious
royal gifts from Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung are now getting the cold shoulder
from buyers at the market. Defectors from North Korea living in South Korea
recount how the snacks provided a brief respite from the extreme poverty and despair
that permeated life in North Korea at the turn of the century.
Instead of eating the snacks, bold
residents now simply sell them in the marketplace. They usually take the profits
from that and purchase rice to live off of for a day or two. But some did so
well, they were eventually able to get a stand at the market and continue
operations.
2. Since The Day of the Sun is regarded as
North Korea’s most important holiday, I’m curious how many children ended up
actually receiving the treats this year?
Yes, we’ve heard that on Kim Il Sung and
Kim Jung Il’s birthdays, the gifts are given out, and now that’s even true for
Kim Jong Eun’s birthday. Therefore, kids get the gift snacks during these
holidays from the time they are babies until about their 11th birthday.
3. We’ve heard many times about Kim Jong
Eun’s directive to disperse the gifts in a general way, but I’m interested in
learning about more specifics: the exact composition of the gifts and the
delivery method of the snacks.
I’d be happy to fill you in on some of the
particulars. Each package normally includes about 400g of snacks, 400g of
candy, 50g of jelly snacks, 100g of gangjeong (fried glutinous ricecrackers
with sesame or beans), and about 5 sticks of gum. The cumulative weight is
about 1 kg. We also know there’s some variation to the amount and quality of
the goods across different regions. The DailyNK has also learned that the gifts
are dispersed to the various preschools, kindergartens, and elementary schools
where they will be handed out in a formal ceremony a few days before Kim Jong
Il’s birthday (usually delivered by February 14th) and Kim Il Sung’s (usually
delivered by April 13th) birthdays.
4. So as soon as they are distributed they
are thrown on the market for sale?
Absolutely. It isn’t hard to find stands in
the market selling the snacks on the very afternoon that they are handed out.
Because people can’t just hang out in the market paying the stall fees until
they sell all their goods, they generally sell at a bit of a lower price than
the regular sellers. They say that the profits that come out of these efforts
is usually enough to buy about a kg of rice.
5. However, you mentioned that the snacks
are getting the cold shoulder these days and aren’t even showing up in the
markets as they once did?
Yes, that’s certainly the case. To
celebrate the birthday of his father and grandfather Kim Jong Eun and North
Korea authorities are giving gifts to all the children and calling it
“love from the Marshal.” Authorities try to inject the people with
love and loyalty for the regime and the Worker’s Party, but seeing the low
quality and poor hygienic conditions of the factories used to make the snacks,
people know that the regime’s love for them is insincere. So a lot of parents
were just giving the snacks to their kids instead of selling them. When I was
living in North Korea, I would often find pieces of hair and dust in the candies.
That’s why I didn’t give any to my daughter. I’m not alone in this regard.
Other parents have the same concerns, and so instead of giving the
regime-sponsored snacks to their kids, they started making their own, or buying
candies from China in the jangmadang.
After 2000 or so, most of the residents
stopped buying the gifted snacks. That’s why the market value of the snacks
starting falling. Residents grew to despise the snacks that were once
emblematic of love from the Marshal. They now mistrust and criticize the
intentions of the authorities.
6. From what I know, during these holidays,
North Korean children run up to their house’s portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim
Jong Il to pledge their loyalty and express their gratitude in anticipation of
the coming snacks. I’m curious how the candies first started working their way
into the markets.
It all started in the mid 1990s during the
Arduous March (or famine). Even though those days were bleak and dreary, the
government did not stop the distribution of snacks to the children. But the
days of happily munching the candies as soon as they arrived were over. People
realized they could buy rice if they sold the candies at the jangmadang. At
that time there were no officials in place to crack down on the sales, so they
naturally grabbed a place at the markets.
7. So, you’re saying that it was very
difficult to see the snacks for sale at the market before the Arduous March? So
in conclusion would it be fair to say that at the end of the Arduous March
(early 2000s) was when you first began to see them in the markets?
Yeah, I think that’s fair to say. No matter
how difficult life was during the famine, it was hard to see the gift snacks in
the markets at that time. Actually, during that time I think residents regarded
the gifted snacks as precious treasures and even expressed great gratitude to
the Suryeong and the Dear Leader. It was practically a rule to go to the
deceased leaders’ statues to perform a greeting and express devotion. But
people started to change their attitudes in the early 2000s. Chinese
manufactured goods began to appear in the markets. I actually believe the
consequences of the authorities approving large scale trade operations with
China had a lot to do with changing people’s attitudes. From then on, people
saw the unveiling of all sorts of foods, fruits, and snacks from China that
they had never seen before.
8. You mentioned that better off families
rarely feed the gift snacks to their children, but I am curious who is buying
the snacks that go for sale in the market. Can you speak a little bit about
that?
Most of the time, families with children
over the age of 11 end up buying the snacks. Better off families buy Chinese
foods or make their own snacks and candies, but lower class residents buy the
gift snacks at the market so they have something to give their children. Even
though they’re low in quality in general, the ones that end up for sale in the
market end up being a bit better. Painfully watching their children burst into
tears, some of the poorer families are forced to sell the candy in order to buy
rice. Some parents calm down their disappointed children by buying them some
fried corn snacks as a replacement. But on the whole, the families who endured
through the Arduous March are now striving towards a higher standard of living,
and this includes a diversifying palate for snacks. Of course, there is a
difference of access and availability between the rich and the poor.
9. Can we say as a matter of fact that
authorities are giving residents [unofficial] permission to sell the gift
snacks?
According to an inside source, a crackdown
on selling the Marshal’s snacks occurs merely as a formality one or two days
before their distribution. The crackdown is temporarily enforced and does not
pose any serious problems, according to the source. No longer are middle-class
families buying the snacks on the market for their children, that trend is now
something we see more frequently with low income families these days.
