Since the start of the “100-Day Battle,” participation in people’s unit meetings has spiraled down drastically, according to Daily NK sources.
Such meetings are supposed to be held twice a week, but lately holding the meetings according to a fixed schedule has become difficult. Therefore, chairpersons now summon meetings irregularly, as occasion demands, but their frequency is exacerbating absenteeism.
Immediately after the conclusion of the “150-Day Battle,” the authorities started the 100-Day Battle and encouraged people’s units, the basic administrative unit responsible for civilian activities, to mobilize as many workers and materials as possible for the new campaign. As a result, most people’s units held meetings almost every day, and resident participation naturally grew sluggish.
Since residents started using a range of excuses to avoid attending the meetings, lately unit chairmen have tended to communicate pertinent information in the form of circular notices to every household.
Even for people’s unit lectures, cadres invited from the Party and unit chairmen have taken to knocking on doors and gathering signatures of attendance confirming that lectures were held, instead of cajoling people to actually go.
A source from Shinuiju reported to Daily NK on Wednesday, “Since the start of the 100-Day Battle, people’s unit meetings have been scheduled more frequently, so residents just don’t go. Therefore, people’s unit chairmen send around notices, because instructing and encouraging residents to participate in meetings, events and other lectures is annoying for everyone.”
The source said, “It is a sign of desperation, not for the people’s convenience. The authorities have already figured this out, and encourage them to take the meetings seriously. But the reality does not allow it.
The source said, “Every day the people have to be mobilized before breakfast time and after finishing work in the evening they must be exhausted. How can they possibly participate in such meetings?”
“There is no agenda for the meetings, but they are always bothering us, so now we just stay at home. Anyway, the instructions are mainly to provide the People’s Army or a Shock Brigade with materials.”
“In Pyongyang, the heads of local government offices themselves increasingly take part in the meetings to monitor how well the meeting is held, but it has been only done for a few days. It is probably impossible for them to participate in every people’s unit meeting,” a source in the capital explained.
According to sources across a number of provinces, there are not enough construction materials for projects, so work in the name of the Battle is gradually decreasing no matter how many meetings are held. Therefore, there is no enthusiasm left.
