Chongjin’s “unified command on non-socialist and anti-socialist behavior” is using the present peak of the winter preparation season to ramp up their “mop up” war on street commerce, Daily NK has learned.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Thursday that the Chongjin branch of the unified command on non-socialist and anti-socialist behavior (hereinafter “the unified command”) “has been using the winter preparation period from mid October to mid- November” to intensify their mop up operation against street merchants from Oct. 13, targeting peddlers “selling winter preparation items in front of train stations, in alleyways and near markets.”
He said the unified command has even mobilized additional personnel for the effort.
In fact, the unified command is reportedly engaged in a “merciless” crackdown on itinerant merchants everywhere except in markets, designating specific spots as major targets.
Those major targets include train stations like Chongjin Station, Sunam Station, Songpyong Station and Ranam Station, along with areas surrounding the city’s markets, where street commerce is not permitted.
GRASSHOPPER MERCHANTS ARE A KEY TARGET OF CRACKDOWNS
According to the source, the unified command is busting everyone caught in these areas selling cabbage, radish and other vegetables to make winter kimchi, as well as heating supplies like firewood and briquettes, arresting them and confiscating their wares.
“Most of those busted are poor residents who cannot afford to buy a market stall and wander around selling things,” said the source. “We call these people ‘grasshopper merchants,’ and they lead an indescribable wretched existence, living day-to-day.”
Even though Chongjin’s unified command knows full well how difficult things are for such people, it has reportedly ordered an intense crackdown to “show people how the law does things,” mobilizing not only additional police officers but even students from the Ministry of Social Security’s political university who are in town for practical training.
Moreover, the source said the unified command is egging on enforcement personnel, calling on them to bust everyone regardless of circumstances and “mercilessly mop them up,” confiscating their wares, claiming that streetside merchants are vowing to defy authorities and “make their living with a spirit as tough as dog meat.”
About this merciless crackdown, streetside merchants complain that “if they were really living high on the hog, they wouldn’t be on the streets in the cold pulling handcarts with cabbages and radishes,” and that “they have no choice but to [peddle goods on the street] because they’re barely eking out a living and they have to prepare for winter, too.”
Ordinary people are reportedly slamming the unified command, blaming it for “threatening businesspeople engaged in commerce since it has nothing to do after arresting and disappearing all the people they busted for using Chinese-made mobile phones or watching South Korean films.”
According to the source, about 40 residents of Chongjin were busted between Oct. 13 and 14, when the crackdown began in earnest, while many others are lying low after running off to avoid the sweep.
“One woman who was selling things while carrying a baby spilled all her wares and badly hurt her knee when she fell running with her wares on her head,” said the source. “Because of this, she is having a tough time because she can’t go out and sell things.”
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