Despite the easing of crackdowns, street food vendors in Hyesan are struggling these days because they make so little money, Daily NK has learned.
“Business people in Hyesan who cook noodles at home to sell are desperate because they make so little money these days,” a source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It’s hard for them to sell just one cup of noodles each day.”
North Korea intensified its crackdown on private food sales since the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, people caught in the crackdown paid fines or performed forced labor, as the restrictions were ostensibly based on quarantine regulations. As a result, many people gave up selling food.
With the recent easing of the crackdown, some people who used to sell food have resumed their businesses. But the source said they still have a hard time making a living because there are so few customers.
“People can’t afford to eat food that costs more than a kilogram of rice, so with a bowl of noodles costing more than KPW 5,000 – and more than KPW 6,000 if you add an egg – no one buys it,” the source said.
A bowl of noodles costs more or less what it used to, but people now find the price a burden as they have become poorer in recent years due to COVID-19.
“Food merchants miss the days before COVID-19, when they were busy and sweating because they had so many customers,” the source said. “But no one knows when those days will return, so they barely make it from day to day.”
People who sell food to market and street vendors are also suffering from slow business, the source said.
“Food sold to market stall merchants is a little cheaper than food sold to ordinary people, so you have to sell as much as you can to make money,” the source said.
“However, market vendors often skip meals these days because they don’t make money, so the people who sell them food are also suffering.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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