Around 20 North Korean business people in Sunchon, South Pyongan Province, recently decided to take collective action after Ministry of Social Security officers stormed a local market and confiscated their goods.
A source in the province told Daily NK on Tuesday that in mid-March the municipal Ministry of Social Security stormed a market in Sunchon and confiscated some products that were being sold. However, the source said that people who had their goods taken decided to engage in collective action to recover their products.
The municipal Ministry of Social Security had staged the crackdown to confiscate specific products that are not allowed to be sold at marketplaces.
Ministry officials focused particularly on confiscating medicines sold by individuals without a permit and without necessary prescriptions, fake pesticides manufactured by individuals, and foreign electrical appliances that consume high amounts of power. Such products were confiscated and then stored at the market management office’s warehouse.
The Ministry of Social Security’s actions became a major issue when people whose goods had been taken decided to stage a raid to retrieve their products. North Koreans are facing particularly tough times these days due to the negative impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the economy and the food situation. Under these circumstances, not being able to do business and having their products taken away seems to have pushed the market sellers “over the edge.”
“About 20 people, who knew that the confiscated items were stored in the warehouse of the market management office, gave the security guard some alcohol to drink in the evening, then smashed the door of the warehouse with a hammer and took all the goods,” the source said.
“Business people are used to crackdowns and having their goods confiscated, but given the prolonged nature of their hardships, these kinds of abnormal incidents have been popping up here and there,” the source added.
The incident was promptly reported to the municipal party committee. The municipal Ministry of Social Security then moved to arrest those who were involved.
“Sunchon’s municipal party committee and the municipal Ministry of Social Security defined the incident as ‘an act of collective disorder,’ and punished those who were caught,” the source said, adding, “In the end, two leaders of the raid were sentenced to three years at a forced labor correctional facility, while the rest were sentenced to one year of forced labor.”
Translated by Gabriela Bernal
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
