As residents of the northern highlands of North Hamgyong province suffer from firewood shortages amid freezing winter temperatures, the city of Hoeryong launched a “five homes help one” campaign in January to aid families on the verge of freezing to death.
A Daily NK source in North Hamgyong province, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told Daily NK recently that Hoeryong residents were “waging a war against the cold” and that the city’s party committee and local government “have checked living conditions in each neighborhood and urged a five-homes-help-one campaign for families who need firewood immediately.”
According to the source, some families in Hoeryong’s northern highlands have been unable to gather enough firewood due to financial troubles and spend their days suffering from cold on top of hunger.
Most of them live day to day, working in the markets. Unable to afford even three meals a day with few people buying their wares, they have no money to purchase firewood to warm their homes.
These families endure the cold by heating their homes for an hour or so with the little firewood they have and laying layers of blankets on the floor to retain the heat.
Neighborhood offices reported the situation to the city government and the city party committee, prompting officials to inspect living conditions personally. They found that one home in five was cold and starving, with some families on the verge of freezing to death.
A reluctant response from struggling neighbors
Residents suffering from daily hunger and cold say this winter “is the season of death.” To help them, the city party committee and city government devised a campaign plan calling for five families to help one in need.
The city’s neighborhood watch units received an order last month to conduct the campaign between Jan. 24 and the Day of the Shining Star holiday on Feb. 16, the birthday of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Schools were also told to collect firewood for families shivering in the cold.
However, with many families barely able to heat their own homes amid serious economic hardship, residents have responded to the campaign with little enthusiasm.
“In the current circumstances, getting five families to help one won’t be easy,” the source said. “People sympathize with those households on the verge of freezing to death, but they also complain that they’re barely able to survive themselves, and that the state should take care of them in times like these.”
Reporting from inside North Korea
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