Unification Media Group (UMG): March 8 was International Women’s Day. Even in North Korea, where the crushing patriarchal system and pressure to earn money for their family makes women’s lives difficult, the day remains a special one. Today, we speak to reporter Seol Song Ah about the significance of this day and how a particular segment of the population celebrates it: female prisoners in North Korea’s labor camps.
Seol Song Ah (Seol): The meaning of International Women’s Day is changing in North Korea. In many cases, women are tasked with being the family breadwinner. Come rain or snow, they need to go to the market to earn a living, but a rare respite comes on International Women’s Day. Even in patriarchal North Korea where men are given authority and privilege, the one exception is Women’s Day, when women can expect some special regard. Caring husbands might even surprise their wives with a gift.
North Korean women who have been sent to labor camps for the crime of “illegal market activity” spend the day in a particularly special fashion.
UMG: We know from testimony that prisoners of North Korea’s labor camps suffer from a number of human rights violations, such as beatings, forced labor, and food deprivation. So I am surprised to hear that female prisoners are allowed to celebrate Women’s Day in the labor camps.
Seol: We should start by making a distinction between the levels of severity for North Korea’s penal system. Those who are convicted of felonies by the Ministry of People’s Security (the police) are sent to correctional labor camps (rodong kyohwaso). Those who commit misdemeanors are sent to a labor reform center (rodong kyoyangso) for one to two years or disciplinary labor center (rodong danryeondae) for one to six months. The correctional labor camps and labor reform centers are run by the Ministry of People’s Safety (MPS). The disciplinary labor centers (rodong danryeondae), however, are operated by the local municipal People’s Committee.
This means that the food provisions provided to these camps comes not from the MPS, but from the local region. The prisoners are not allowed to farm their own food, and many have died from exhaustion and malnutrition after being subjected to forced labor without proper nutrition. This has attracted condemnation from the international community. In response, sources in South Pyongan Province told me that the authorities are now allowing family members to visit the prisoners twice a week.
Female prisoners are allowed to meet with their families on March 8 as well. Over half of the inmates in these facilities are female. Their husbands and children come to visit and often give them a bag of food that enables them to survive the forced labor.
UMG: I am curious about the other types of detention facilities – the correctional labor camps and labor reform centers. Are there many women in these types of facilities?
Seol: Women are the ones responsible for most of the market activity in North Korea. The bigger operations involve a proportionally larger share of illegal activity. And among these market actors, many are female. It’s said that prisoners of correctional labor camps are not even looked upon as human. Those in disciplinary labor centers are considered criminals that you can’t even speak about, but the prisoners of correctional camps are seen as animals,according to sources I’ve spoken with in South Pyongan Province.
These women are permitted two visits per month, but denied visitation rights for Women’s Day. Some husbands, wanting to ensure their wives don’t go hungry on this holiday, visit their wives before Women’s Day to deliver some dried cornmeal powder.
UMG: Learning that husbands treat their wives this way makes me think that much has changed in terms of gender dynamics in North Korea.
Seol: The patriarchal nature of the culture used to be stifling. But the development of the market economy – and the rising prominence of women within it – has led to a decline in the dominance of men. This has caused some marital friction, but it is undeniable that gender roles are shifting and some men are accommodating the changes. It has become realized that families are happiest and healthiest if women are supported to succeed in their market activities. More and more men are thinking along these lines, and this explains the rising prominence of Women’s Day.
Making breakfast for the ladies on Women’s Day has now become common practice, but there are some regional differences. Married men in the cities often place money in a flower bouquet and present it to their wives. A woman in her 40s who defected in 2017 from Pyonsong City said, “Women’s Day is an opportunity for women to see how much their husbands love them. Men with some spare money tend to give cash to their wives and tell them to have some fun spending it rather than giving them a gift.”
Men who work in state factories often can’t afford this sort of gift. Instead, they carry their wives products to the market stall for them. And when they get home, the husbands often have a warm bowl of tofu soup waiting for them.
UMG: So even on this holiday, women head out to the market to earn money? They don’t take the day off?
Seol: The holidays are a good opportunity to earn money. They continue to sell their wares even as they eat lunch. So the food vendors deliver the food right to their stalls. Delicious and expensive foods are available for purchase on Women’s Day in the markets. For example, a new food has appeared in South Pyongan Province these days – ssambap, or rice wrapped in greens.
The defector from Pyongsong said that “Boiled glutinous rice is wrapped in sesame leaf, seasoned aster leaf, or reed leaf. It’s very popular. Other foods – like imitation meat with rice and tofu with rice – have taken a backseat to ssambap.”
In contrast, women who work at factories pool their money before Women’s Day so they can purchase pork soup and spend the day in a simple manner. Even as late as the 1990s, Women’s Day was not a national holiday in North Korea. They were given the afternoon off from work, but now it has been designated a national holiday and plans are made well in advance.
UMG: Who do the women gather with to celebrate this holiday? In South Korea, we tend to get together with friends from our school days.
Seol: It’s the same in North Korea. Women talk to their high school friends and say, “Shall we meet?” But they need to be careful. Groups that convene together or even order the same food fall into the purview of the Ministry of State Security (MSS). Seeking to avoid this kind of attention from the authorities, there aren’t many group meetings like this in North Korea. On Women’s Day, the ladies gather at a friend’s house. They sing and dance, usually with their husbands as well.
The space in which they gather is also important. The house they go to needs to have an amplifier and a microphone set up. They also need to pick a place that is isolated and quiet. Normally, it’s possible to hear the sounds coming from a neighbor’s house. During Women’s Day, North Koreans tend to prefer singing South Korean songs and dancing to foreign music. This could get them in trouble, so privacy is paramount.
UMG: So you’re saying that people have this sort of musical equipment in their own homes?
Seol: That’s correct. In North Korea, amplifiers are called ullimtong. The microphone is plugged into the amplifier and the effect is very similar to a karaoke bar. Starting around the 2000s, North Korea’s new entrepreneurial class – called the donjuLiterally "masters of money," donju refers to people who hav... More, or money masters – started to purchase amps with a feature that enabled them to record. Now there’s a diverse array of amps available from many different countries such as Japan, China, and South Korea.
The price of an amplifier in North Pyongan Province is about USD 200. Families that have more powerful amplifiers are sometimes requested by the neighborhood watch (inminban) leader to set up the machines on a roof to create a block party atmosphere.
The mood is cheerful as songs like “Women are Flowers,” “A Wife’s Song,” and “Excellent, Horse-like Lady” are sung. Women coming back from the markets and passerby alike, no matter their age or gender, can join in such celebrations.
