The North Hamgyong Province branch of the “unified command on non-socialist and anti-socialist behavior” raided four private homes that doubled as motorcycle repair shops in the city of Chongjin ahead of the Sept. 9 holiday celebrating North Korea’s founding.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Thursday that the provincial unified command raided the homes at night, ticketing the occupants for “all sorts of non-socialist behavior” and “confiscating items and levying fines.”
The unified command had already warned through the city’s district offices that it would conduct surprise home inspections. They were not targeting all homes, however. Instead, they staked out and raided homes that seemed well off.
The source said the unified command focused on cracking down on individuals earning an economically stable living making money fixing motorcycles at their homes.
On the day of the crackdown, members of the unified command — following the head of the neighborhood watch unit — raided the four homes starting in the early evening.
However, their attention focused not on confirming the occupants of the homes, but on the motorcycle repair spaces.
Members of the unified command looked at each and every motorcycle left for repairs. They also scrutinized other motorcycles and bicycles that were there for reasons other than repairs.
Pointing to motorcycles left as collateral by locals who borrowed money from the mechanics, the unified command threatened to “unconditionally” confiscate the items, calling the homes “dens of usury capitalism.”
Many North Koreans carry fake motorcycle registrations because real ones are too expensive — over RMB 2,000. The unified command fined owners of the motorcycles, calling their registrations “forgeries,” and threatened to confiscate the motorcycles if the fines were not paid in 10 days.
The source said the only reason the motorcycle owners were even given 10 days is because they pleaded for more time.
“In the end, the motorcycle mechanics bit the bullet and accepted fines of over USD 500, but they quietly fumed that this was a lot of money when times were tough,” he said.
The motorcycle mechanics face confiscation of their possessions if they fail to pay the fines, and having learned few other skills, they must continue to make their living repairing motorcycles. So they have even asked around to borrow money to pay the fines.
The source said people near the raided homes criticized the behavior of the unified command.
“They say that the motorcycle mechanics have now been forced to illegally pawn their possessions, but in fact, they’re registered as state service facilities and achieve 100% of their state-allotted targets every month, so they don’t know what the heck the unified command is doing,” he explained.
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