Gifts from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were distributed in early November to residents of Hwadae County, North Hamgyong Province, which was recently battered by typhoons, Daily NK has learned.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Monday that “gifts from the Supreme Leader” of kitchen utensils and other items to Hwadae County arrived on Nov. 1, but the distribution of the gifts – carried out by the provincial and county party organizations – “earned the displeasure of local residents.”
According to the source, households affected by the typhoon were to receive a gift set with two blankets, a bowl, toilet paper and a TV set, most of which were made in China.
Cadres from the national party as well as workers from the provincial and county party organizations of North Hamgyong Province and Hwadae County distributed the gifts to locals, but not all families impacted by the typhoons received them. Only certain households approved by the provincial and county party organizations received the gifts, according to the source.
The source said the gifts were not distributed to households as complete sets but as individual items based on a “gift accounting list.” The source explained that the “households were divided into those with televisions, those with toilet paper, those with clothing and those with kitchenware, and they received only the items they needed. But the items were distributed with priority placed on enthusiastic party members or workers, so many of the households impacted by the typhoon did not receive gifts.”
Local residents reportedly displayed a great deal of resentment with their treatment by provincial and county party officials, with some complaining, for example, that “the Supreme Leader [Kim Jong Un] mustn’t have told people to discriminate when giving out the gifts when he sent it, but the people working underneath him are discriminating when sharing the love of the Supreme Leader.”
The source noted that large items such as the televisions were taken almost entirely by county and village cadres, adding, “The leadership who sent the gifts has no idea of the situation on-the-ground, and the gifts just made ordinary people really unhappy since they didn’t get their share.”
A growing number of residents in Hwadae County are lamenting the fact that they are unable to acquire food because local farms suffered immense damage due to recent typhoons, the source further reported.
