North Korea has launched a heavy-handed crackdown on private rice sales in North Hamgyong province.
“After the Central Committee ordered a halt to the private distribution and sale of rice, the North Hamgyong police and commerce bureau have been cooperating on a large-scale clampdown,” a source in the province told Daily NK recently.
The Central Committee’s orders were delivered to all cities and counties in the province. In the provincial capital of Chongjin and areas around Kyongsong and Onsong county where private rice vendors are active, local commerce officials and police have been mobilizing squads of enforcers to stamp out the practice.
In Chongjin, market management offices (which belong to the commerce department in each district’s people’s committee) have promulgated the ban on private rice sales and warned that violators will be fined and their rice confiscated.
Under the ban, enforcers have been stationed at the entrances to markets in the Sinam, Songpyong and Pohang districts of Chongjin to check the grain that private vendors carry in gunny sacks.
“In the middle of this month, a woman at Songpyong Market in Chongjin had slipped in some rice to sell alongside her barley and soybeans. When she was caught by the enforcers, they seized all her grain and left her wailing in the street,” the source said.
Government moves to regain control over food distribution
Similar developments have been reported in Kyongsong county.
According to the source, the county people’s committee instructed the heads of neighborhood watch units to remind people that rice should be bought at state-run shops and to warn market vendors that anybody caught selling even a little rice along with the potatoes, barley and soybeans that are authorized for sale will have all their products confiscated for engaging in the “pursuit of private gain.”
“The government is taking steps to regain its control over food distribution. People have been noticeably displeased about the crackdown that began early this month. The dragnet is so tight that people carrying rice are being nabbed not only at markets but also in alleyways and even on the way to and from work,” the source said.
In the past, private rice vendors caught in the act were able to dodge punishment by slipping enforcers a bribe of cigarettes or alcohol, but bribes are no longer being accepted.
“Some people are sneaking over to the homes of neighbors with rice under cover of night and buying a couple kilograms that they then conceal under their clothing. Many are criticizing the government for these ridiculous measures and lamenting that they’ve never before had to skulk around like secret agents just to buy a little rice,” the source said.
