Farmers in the city of Kaesong are expressing their discontent at the city’s party committee, which is entirely preoccupied with agitation activities despite the current busy farming season, Daily NK has learned.
“The farmers’ simmering dissatisfaction with Kaesong’s city party committee stems from the committee’s exclusive focus on agitation activities, specifically the allocation of political and economic agitation activities to each farm, rather than channeling manpower to support busy farming activities,” a reporting partner in Kaesong told Daily NK last Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
According to the reporting partner, the committee has determined the amount of such agitation activities to be carried out by various organizations, enterprises and schools in the city, and gave orders for these institutions to report on the number of activities conducted.
Far from receiving help to resolve pressing agricultural matters, work units were instead entirely focused on a range of propaganda and agitation practice sessions before going out to the fields to sing, dance, and read aloud poems before returning home. All of this has led to mounting displeasure among the farm managers and farmers.
In fact, the reporting partner told Daily NK that city officials and laborers, who came to one of the farms in Kaepung County to conduct agitation activities, had summoned all the farmers to listen to their propaganda speeches for over an hour despite the farmers having their hands full with unfinished work. This led the farmers to question “whether these actions were really proper during such a busy period.”
One of the farmers expressed his opinion about this loudly with little reservation, saying that “while such agitation activities are good, it is a waste of time during this busy period when much labor is needed in the fields.”
In particular, the farmer complained that “summoning farmers to participate in these activities during working hours impedes the fulfillment of production goals,” adding that “one should come to the farms fully committed to help with the farm work, and not hinder progress if assistance can’t be provided.”
He went on to remark that “the whole city is singing and dancing, engrossed in agitation activities, which instead has turned out to be a hindrance,” echoing the sentiments of the farmers as a whole.
The reporting partner said that this farmer was reported to the village-level party committee for ideological deviation, and subsequently summoned to write a letter of self-criticism. He then received a stern warning from the committee, stating that a repeat of such actions would incur even greater repercussions.
“Both the ordinary farmers’ and farm managers’ disapproval towards the committee’s policy of agitation activities cannot be openly displayed,” the reporting partner said. “The farmers have, amongst themselves, been criticizing the committee for its continued lack of understanding about the central workings of agricultural work, despite the longstanding presence of these farmers who go about working tirelessly and relentlessly year after year.”
Translated by Marc Yeo Yi Fei. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea and China. 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.
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