Hyesan residents have recently been ordered to “donate” to the relief campaign for flood victims along North Korea’s northern border, Daily NK has learned.
“Quotas for disaster recovery efforts have been issued to all organizations in Hyesan, including government agencies, companies, labor groups, schools and neighborhood watch units,” a source in Yanggang province told Daily NK recently. “The same quotas apply, without exception, to students in elementary, middle and high schools, even though they’re currently on summer vacation.”
Torrential rains last month caused flooding and landslides in Yanggang province, wiping out roads and leaving families homeless.
The provincial party committee held meetings with the heads of various organizations in Hyesan at the end of July and then again on Aug. 1 to explain the flood impact in Hyesan and various counties in the province. Provincial officials then ordered that the organizations gather supplies to send the flood victims.
Each organization was given a specific, nonnegotiable quota at the meeting, separate from any supplies that may be donated voluntarily.
As a result, one neighborhood watch unit in Hyesan held an emergency meeting on Aug. 1 and informed unit families about the two kinds of contributions, one voluntary and the other mandatory.
Families were told they could donate food, clothing, dishes and blankets for flood victims as their conscience dictated, but that they were required to make a 30,000 North Korean won donation.
The per-family amount of 30,000 won is reportedly designed to cover the neighborhood watch unit’s quota of 300 kilograms of cement and 250 kilograms of sand.
People face donation demands from all sides
The problem was that these contributions are being required not only by neighborhood watch units but also by workplaces and schools. That puts each family in the position of coming up with two or three contributions at the same time.
This is not the first time Hyesan residents have been assigned double or triple quotas. But since heavy contributions are being demanded at a time of severe economic hardship, expressions of anger and frustration are being heard all over the place, the source said.
“It has long been the practice to deal with whatever issues crop up by imposing quotas on the public with no regard for their financial wherewithal. Sure enough, it’s once again ordinary North Koreans who are being shouldered with the cost of rebuilding washed out roads and bridges and providing necessities to those impacted by the heavy rains and flooding,” he said.
“Shaking down struggling people who can’t even afford three solid meals a day is causing an unbearable amount of pain. I wish they’d just stop making people’s lives even more miserable under the pretext of providing aid.”
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons.
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