Given the shortfall of food in North Korea, city dwellers are crowding to the farms and making off with much of the early grain crop, a source in Kangwon Province told Daily NK on July 20, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
According to the source, urban residents gathered at farms in Kangwon Province as they raced to secure the recently threshed grain.
Vehicles from outside the province began to appear at Kangwon Province farms on July 10, bringing residents of Pyongyang, Pyongsong in South Pyongan Province, and Hamhung in South Hamgyong Province to carry off grain by the sackful.
“Some of these people were private businesspeople, but factories and enterprises also sent over their vehicles to load up the early grain crop. Those companies hope to sell the grain to their workers for a little cheaper than the market price,” the source said.
This scramble to claim the early grain harvest frightened residents of farming villages in Kangwon Province, who began hoarding the grain for themselves, stirring up turmoil in the area, the source said.
That prompted the Kangwon Province authorities to set up checkpoints to monitor the vehicles entering and leaving the farming villages. However, independent businesspeople and proxies from factories and enterprises used their connections to make bribes and safely transport their grain haul out of the province.
“Farmers complained that the province’s directives had little effect on law enforcement and lamented that city dwellers’ ransacking of the grain crop was making life tougher for farming families, who have a set quota of grain they must give the government,” the source said.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
