A neighborhood office in Chongam district, Chongjin, North Hamgyong province, is forcing people to participate in mandatory labor in the second half of the year under the banner of “self-reliance.” This has sparked widespread public anger, with neighborhood watch unit leaders bearing the brunt of people’s frustration.
“Neighborhood watch unit members in a Chongam district neighborhood attended a study session on Aug. 12 where the neighborhood office head called for mass mobilizations, loudly demanding that everyone participate in daily road clearing,” a Daily NK source in North Hamgyong province said recently. “But the response was lukewarm, so when the study session ended, the neighborhood office head made the neighborhood watch unit leaders stay behind for ‘additional study.'”
The session centered on the slogan, “Let’s overcome today’s difficulties and march together down the path of Juche with the banner of self-reliance held high.” What really irritated people, however, was the neighborhood office chief’s demand that they “conscientiously” participate in mobilizations for construction sites, military support programs, and resource collection efforts.
“People tolerated the study session since it was the usual propaganda, but when the lecturer told them to earnestly carry out multiple tasks that would make their lives miserable, most people just stared glumly,” the source said. “They were particularly annoyed at being told that 100% of neighborhood watch unit members had to help clean the roads.”
When the audience didn’t respond enthusiastically, the neighborhood office chief held a separate meeting with just the neighborhood watch unit leaders after the main session. He again demanded that all unit members participate in road cleaning, saying, “With Party Foundation Day (Oct. 10) and the Ninth Party Congress coming up, the district party branch will only be satisfied if they see the streets filled with lots of people working.”
Local Leaders Caught Between State Demands and Public Anger
This puts the neighborhood watch unit leaders in an impossible position, forcing them to absorb all the public anger and resentment.
Members of one neighborhood watch unit in Chongam district bombarded their unit leader with complaints after he relayed the neighborhood office chief’s orders. The unit leader tried to calm his members by telling them to “just carry on as usual.”
In this context, “carrying on as usual” meant going through the motions in a halfhearted way. The suggestion could be interpreted as a call to minimize the actual work by secretly organizing teams to rotate duties on assigned days while reporting that absent members were either sick or working on other assignments.
“People have no choice but to complain to the neighborhood watch unit leaders they see every day,” the source said. “So these leaders have to play both sides—calming people’s anger and resistance while explaining to their superiors why they can’t mobilize enough workers.”
With neighborhood watch units essentially being treated as shock labor brigades under slogans like “Nothing is impossible” and “Willpower is the key to solving problems,” balancing demands from above with complaints from unit members ultimately comes down to each unit leader’s skill at managing people, the source said.
“When the higher-ups preach about self-reliance, the neighborhood watch unit leaders practice their own version of self-reliance,” the source said. “These days, since unit leaders must deal with their members’ anger while keeping their superiors happy, they have to become master negotiators just to survive.”
