It’s time for
another round of our weekly “Market Trends,” which provides us with an opportunity to explore North Korean economic
developments in detail. Today we’re going to look at how the perceived
threat of sanctions, rather than the sanctions themselves, has changed life on
the ground in North Korea. For more, we turn to Daily NK reporter Kang Mi Jin.
Hello. Residents are hedging against
further isolation and turning their efforts to finding food from unconventional
sources. This comes amid a propaganda push by the regime cautioning residents
to “make reparations against the [external] scheme to destroy North Korea
through isolation,” which foments concerns of an eventual ban on
foodstuffs among the population. Certainly, from an outside vantage point, we
know that the possibility of such a scenario is improbable, but inside the
perceived fear is very real.
Sources in Ryanggang Province report a
movement there to incorporate more domestically-sourced goods into the daily
diet, thus introducing new goods into the fray. Particularly noteworthy is a
strand of soy sauce made from the chaga mushroom, a type of fungus that grows
on birch and other hardwood trees. Apparently, residents really enjoy the
natural, clean taste of the chaga soy sauce and a growing number of
health-conscious people actually prefer it.
When I lived in North Korea, however, these
mushrooms were by and large exported to China, where they are typically
rendered into traditional medicines.
So this method of making soy sauce is
unprecedented in North Korea then?
Yes. North Korean residents make soy
sauce in various ways, but the traditional method is to mix salt, water, and
fermented soybeans together and let that mixture ferment for three to four
months. The end product is then used as soy sauce. This is the primary method
used in North and South Pyongyan Provinces and North and South Hwanghae
Provinces, where consumption rates of soy sauce are more concentrated.
Others use a sugar-based method to make soy
sauce. With 200 grams of sugar one can produce up to 10 liters of soy sauce. To
do so, one must first fry the sugar in a cast iron cauldron until the color
changes, upon which cold water is added. That mixture is brought to a boil and
seasoned with salt and a healthy sprinkling of MSG, but not so much that the
flavor becomes oily. Surprisingly, the sugar-derived soy sauce had almost no
difference in taste compared to that made with soy beans.
Chaga soy sauce, on the other hand,
involves a different process entirely. You must soak the mushroom in lukewarm
water for 2-3 days to draw out the brownish residue released by the fungus.
After skimming off the residue, the remaining liquid is seasoned with salt and
then boiled again. If one can spare it, a bit of sugar really bumps up the
flavor.
However, in Ryanggang Province, where I used
to live before escaping to South Korea, most people tend to use more soybean
paste than soy sauce, choosing to buy only a small quantity at the markets and
parcel it out in small increments rather than making it themselves at home.
Who produces the soy sauce sold at the
markets?
Food factories do, but that soy sauce rarely
reaches the majority of the population. The reason is that the supply of soy
beans given to the factory is primarily used to make candy for children as well
as red pepper paste for Party members. This means that most ordinary residents
are left with no option but to make their own soy sauce. I also used to produce
my own soy sauce, but my recipe was different from the current recipe used by
residents nowadays.
Are there any restrictions on mushroom
gathering?
Unlike South Korea, where one requires a
license or permit to gather bracken or mushrooms, no such equivalent
regulations exist. Therefore it is fairly easy for residents to gather enough
mushrooms to produce a year’s supply of soy
sauce.
Thank you for that report. We’ll close with
a rundown of the latest market prices.
Prices across the board have either
remained stable or dropped slightly. A kg of rice cost 4900 KPW in Pyongyang, 5000
KPW in Sinuiju, and 4800 KPW in Hyesan. A kg of corn [kernels] cost 1300 KPW in
Pyongyang, 1150 KPW in Sinuiju, and 1200 KPW in Hyesan. The dollar exchange rate was 8170 KPW in Pyongyang, 8280 KPW in Sinuiju and 8290 in Hyesan.
The yuan exchange rate was 1255 KPW in Pyongyang, 1260 KPW in Sinuiju,
and 1270 KPW in Hyesan. A kg of pork cost 9000 KPW in Pyongyang, 10000 KPW in
Sinuiju, and 10000 KPW in Hyesan. A kg of gasoline cost 6000 KPW in Pyongyang,
7000 KPW in Sinuiju, and 9450 KPW in Hyesan. A kg of diesel cost 4500 KPW in
Pyongyang, 5600 KPW in Sinuiju, and 6520 KPW in Hyesan.
*This segment reflects market conditions from June 20-29.
