North Korea handed out 45-inch LED TVs as
gifts to all Workers’ Party members who attended the 7th Party Congress.
Previous rumors had hinted that the state would also provide all households
with home appliances, but this has yet to materialize, Daily NK has learned.
“Yesterday (May 11) in Pyongyang, everyone
who took part in the Party Congress received a new 45-inch television,” a
source from South Pyongan Province told Daily NK. “The high-end flat screen TVs
came with a red flag-shaped label that says ‘7th Party Congress’ in yellow
letters, where the TV’s brand name would usually be.”
“Attendees also received a large gift box
packed with various sweets, snacks, and regional delicacies,” the source added,
confirming earlier reports by Daily NK that the North had started mass
production of special snacks at the Gold Cup Athletes Comprehensive Food
Factory for the political gathering.
When Pyongyang held its 6th Party Congress
in October 1980, the state distributed color TV sets produced by Japanese
manufacturer Hitachi, but with the brand label substituted to ‘Jindallae
(azalea)’ and ‘Moran (peony),’ said the source.
“The color televisions handed out 36 years
ago were immensely popular, and the nature of this year’s gifts are also
piquing curiosity,” said the source, going on to speculate that sanctions were
at least partially to blame for the regime’s choice to hand out cheaper Chinese
products over superior Japanese goods this time.
Other rumors claim that state-factory
managers who worked through the event stand to receive locally-produced
refrigerators for their efforts.
Naturally, these rumors about gifts
for those in the upper ranks have fueled complaints among the general public,
most of whom were mobilized for the “70-Day Battle” but have seen no
compensation of any kind for their efforts. Most have concluded that the
earlier rumors about special gifts or appliances were nothing more than “hot
air,” noted the source.
However, the more elderly residents are
less surprised, noting that “it has always been this way with cadre-first
politics,” and therefore people should expect nothing more.
Those in Pyongyang fared better, as is
generally the case in North Korea. “Pyongyang residents received a month’s
worth of rations, and some snacks from their local shops,” a source in the capital reported, “but in the provincial areas, aside from the state-enterprises who managed to
collect and distribute two weeks’ worth of food rations, nothing else was
received.”
