Many residents of Pyongyang are giving the newly completed Taesongsan Ice Cream Factory the cold shoulder, Daily NK has learned.
According to a Daily NK source in Pyongyang on Monday, North Korea has been widely promoting that the ice cream factory was “erected under the careful guidance of the Supreme Leader [North Korean leader Kim Jong Un], with his endless love for the people and children.”
North Korea’s state-run media has claimed that the factory was built “with the love and consideration of the Supreme Leader, who wishes to feed people and children cool ice cream in the hot summer.”
State propaganda has further said that the factory will provide tasty, high-quality and low-priced ice cream starting next year, and that people should remember that this is all thanks to Kim’s love and consideration — which they should repay with great innovation and productivity at their workplaces.
BEHIND THE HYPE
However, many Pyongyangites are indifferent to the hype, with many saying the factory was built simply for show, Daily NK’s source said.
In fact, many people have questioned why erecting an ice cream factory in winter rather than summer represents “love for the people,” and are complaining how they are “sick of hearing the government clamor on about ‘love of the people’ all the time while everyone is shivering from hunger and cold.”
It appears clear that North Korea is using the construction of the Taesongsan Ice Cream Factory to promote Kim’s supposed greatness, highlighting his image of a “leader who loves the people.” North Koreans facing financial difficulties, however, are responding with indifference, asking how they can “replace rice with ice cream.”
In fact, residents of Pyongyang’s Taesong District, where the factory was built, are suffering food shortages. For example, Daily NK understands that many families in Taesong District’s Taesong 1-dong neighborhood have failed to receive food rations since May.
North Korea provides a week to 10 days of food to Pyongyang residents on national holidays, but many of the city’s residents have failed to receive food in months because food shortages have caused delays in government food distributions.
Given these circumstances, many Pyongyangites are criticizing the new ice cream factory rather than welcoming it.
“It doesn’t seem right to talk about how a new ice cream factory represents the love of the Supreme Leader when people are having a tough time,” the source said. “People are clapping outwardly, but they are very disgruntled inside.”
According to the source, the government should be focused on “guaranteeing a normal supply of food and firewood to the people, rather than building an ice cream factory.” He further claimed that few people “welcome the building of an ice cream factory that the country can do without.”
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