North Korea is selling locally built remote gas alarms to residents of Pyongyang to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning in the winter months, Daily NK has learned.
A Daily NK source in Pyongyang said Friday that dong (district) offices in each district have been selling “bluetooth remote gas alarms” focused on dong and inminban (people’s unit) since early December.
This may make the wintertime practice of inminban gas patrols, in which families would take turns going around the neighborhood from 11 PM and 5 AM knocking on doors, a thing of the past.
Most North Korean residents burn briquettes, rice straw or corn roots to heat their homes. However, this can be risky with deaths sometimes resulting from the carbon monoxide gas produced.
North Koreans who receive homes without proper heating systems are particularly sensitive to safety issues, dangerously exposed as they are to carbon monoxide poisoning and suffocation.
Because of this, there is reportedly significant demand for the new gas alarms. The source said they quickly grew popular in Pyongyang’s central districts and newly built housing blocks, and they are popular in offices of government enterprises and offices that have heaters as well.
In fact, according to the source, North Korea has been selling and installing the gas alarms for USD 27 a unit, taking purchase orders from households in each inminban. Sales began in Pyongyang’s central districts, including Future Scientists Street and Sept. 9 Street.
Developed by the “Future Science Technology Exchange Company,” the alarms are being mass produced in certain state-designated defense industry factories operating under the Second Economic Committee.
The source said factories are directly selling the alarms on the sly for USD 20, but they add an extra five dollars in city districts and two dollars in dong. He added that people who live near Pyongyang say it is absurd that the authorities sell new items in US dollars while at the same time telling people to hate the United States.
From the perspective of the North Korean authorities, gas alarm sales basically amount to an opportunity to earn a bit of foreign currency, ostensibly as a public safety measure.
The source said after purchasing the alarms from the dong office, people install them on the central ceiling of their home or the ceilings of rooms with powerless heaters, connecting them with their mobile phones using bluetooth. He said an alarm automatically goes off when the carbon monoxide concentration reaches dangerous levels.
He added that some families install them on the floor as it is rumored to be more effective because carbon monoxide gas is heavier than air, suffocating people sleeping on their floor.
Unlike in the capital, the new alarms are unlikely to sell well in the countryside. Among provincial residents suffering tougher economic conditions than residents of Pyongyang, the alarms are reportedly “pie in the sky.”
A Daily NK source in Yanggang Province said well-off families are installing the alarms in their homes after getting people in Pyongyang to buy the devices for them, but many locals in tighter economic straits say they would rather buy corn if they have the money. He said it will be a long time before people in the provinces really start installing the alarms.
