Icy conditions have pummeled North Korea,
dragging temperatures below 30 degrees Celsius. This has led to a
shortage of water due to burst pipes and crippled transportation networks in
the northern parts of the country, adding to people’s struggles, Daily NK has
learned.
“The recent snowstorms and cold snap that
have hit the country for a few days now are causing a lot of grievance for most
people living north of Hamhung City (located in South Hamgyong),” a source from
the country’s northernmost province North Hamgyong told Daily NK on Monday.
“City water mains that connect to households have frozen over, and even the few
village wells that we have are frozen like rocks, so Chongjin residents are now
in a battle to extract the water somehow.”
The water mains are buried 1m underground,
so in order to restore them, people would have to dig through the frozen
ground, which is rock solid like concrete. “You can’t even think of trying with
a shovel or pickaxe,” he said, adding that to fix the ruptured or frozen water
mains, “they’re going to have to wait until at least the end of March.”
Starting from mid-January, four of the six districts in Chongjin, including Chongam and Sinam, saw their water mains
burst or freeze over. The cold wave, which sent temperatures below minus 27 degrees,
has even caused Susong Stream and other rivers to freeze to the bed and, in some extreme cases, forced people to dig up ice to melt for water.
“From the crack of dawn, people go around
here and there with their buckets, but the small number of wells have even
frozen over, so you’ve got to make a hole big enough to fit a well bucket down
and start drawing water up,” he explained. “But it can take up to two hours for
your turn to come, and even so, you can only get about 20 liters of water.”
With crowds descending on these wells, many
residents instead opt to drag their carts as far as 8km out to Susong Stream to
bring back chunks of ice. Most are well aware the water is not suitable for
drinking unless boiled, but a lot of people have been drinking it anyway,
doubtful that “ any germs could possibly survive in weather like this.”
Combine these conditions with the North’s notoriously intermittent power supply and “every route is cut off–railways and roads
alike,” said an additional source in North Hamgyong Province. “With
temperatures hovering around minus 25 degrees for weeks, diesel tanks for buses
and oil pipes have frozen, grounding operations to a halt. Express trains that left Pyongyang for
Chongjin, Hyesan, and Rason have all been delayed by about 15 days, leaving
passengers cold, hungry, and stranded on the road.”
She said that for the few buses that do manage to start their engines and brave the conditions “accidents are frequent” due to the snowstorms and slippery state of the roads.
The disruption in transportation wrought by a detrimental combination of conditions has brought on a surge in prices at the markets and stress for residents for whom most every aspect of daily life fluctuates along with them. Most unable to sell their goods in the extreme weather find themselves “stuck at
home under a blanket just waiting for the cold snap to retreat.”
“Despite these conditions, the state has
failed to issue any relief measures, stirring up anger among residents who say
all the government does is promote the upcoming 7th Party Congress all day and
night,” she asserted. “A lot of residents have filed complaints with their district
Party office asking them to at least resolve one of problems–i.e. power and water– that have hit the city.”
