 The elite frolic at Munsu Water Park while ordinary residents toil in the fields. Image: Rodong Sinmun |
Facing a prolonged drought stretching over
from spring of this year, many North Koreans have been struggling to secure
enough water for farming, but there has been no shortage in water for swimming
pools and water parks catering to the rich, Daily NK has learned.
The state-run Korean Central Television has
been running images of people having a good time at Pyongyang’s Munsu Water
Park, accompanied by reports saying, “Laughter full of happiness and joy rings
out endlessly with people full of life and delight,” a source from North
Hamkyung Province reported. However, people who have been mobilized for farm
work have criticized such reports, calling the “young leader (Kim Jong Un)
immature.”
“Anyone who eats rice,” is subject to
mobilization to support farm work, she said, citing the state’s rhetoric during
the mandate, adding that “it’s got to be infuriating to be
doing this and see scenes of [affluent people] at the pool.” She said that many do in fact complain about languishing in the fields while others go enjoy themselves.
“Even when there is enough water, they
shouldn’t be directing water to swimming pools during rice planting season–let
alone during severe dry spells such as this year,” he went on, citing criticism bubbling to the surface among residents against Party policies that give Pyongyang Party cadres license for such indulgences.
Ever since Kim Jong Un took over power in
the country, there has been a large emphasis on building leisure facilities
such as the Munsu Water Park. The projects are part of Kim Jong Un’s efforts to
make his legacies ‘visible,’ while he emphasizes ‘love’ for his people and
makes promises to provide them with a life of abundance.
This also explains why the state has been
granting permission for donjuLiterally "masters of money," donju refers to people who hav... More [new affluent middle-class, or ‘money masters’] to also build
facilities such as swimming pools. Recently, pools and steam baths that use
leftover heat from thermoelectric power plants have popped up, with the scope
of business spreading into other regions as well.
However, the source explained that in times
of chronic power shortage and a lack of water, these movements create the
opposite effect, giving people more reason to criticize the state. Also given
that most people barely get by on a daily basis by selling goods at the market,
policies to create such facilities fail to reflect the needs of the vast
majority of people.
Many people say, “We’re busy enough trying
to make a living. Who has time to go swimming?” blaming it on the “young and
immature” leadership of Kim Jong Un, according to the source. “They also make
comments that the streets are empty because the Party cadres are all busy
swimming, while poor residents are all out working,” he said.
It has also led to a sense of indifference
from the public about the leadership, while some are actively looking for their
own ways to address the barrage of problems besetting them.
“People believe that the state will no
longer provide proper running water,” a different source in South Pyongan
Province said. “They have no interest in what the leader does whatsoever, and
they’re making and using their own water pumps.”
“We’re facing a drought, and all they do on
farms is tell people to secure their own water,” she pointed out. “At the end
of the day, all they’re doing is focusing on picture-friendly policies and
ignoring people’s actual needs.”
