North Hamgyong Province’s party committee recently ordered commerce department workers in local people’s committees to “go out to the field rather than just staying in the office.”
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK last Friday that the party committee handed down an order on Feb. 3 telling commerce departments of people’s committees to have only one or two people on duty in their offices answering phones while the rest head out into the field donning “ordinary clothing.”
According to the source, the provincial party committee said in the order that people should get out of their offices because commerce sector workers should be “out in the field” the most compared to people in other sectors. It also berated workers for only going out once per month and adhering to “outdated working methods” of sitting at their desks and recording numbers that come in “from the field.”
The provincial party committee further told the workers to go to local markets daily to check whether merchants are selling items according to the rules and regulations set forth by market management offices. The workers were also told to check whether the sellers are charging according to rules established by the country’s national commerce agency.
The workers were also told to find the reason why “rice and commodity prices are skyrocketing for no apparent reason” and report the results to the party. The party committee further demanded that the workers “take the lead” in solving issues faced by the people in “this difficult period.”
According to the source, the purpose of the provincial party committee’s order encouraging commerce department workers to go out to the field is to “steady the lives of North Koreans.” As such, the workers “must make reports to the party regarding the skyrocketing of rice and other commodity prices without fail” and “adopt fundamental measures” to deal with the increase in prices.
The provincial party committee also stated that with the borders closed and commodity prices increasing at will, the lives of the people have become more difficult. The committee noted that commerce department workers must work with “the people in mind at all times” given that reading their “hearts and minds” is “incredibly important.”
According to the source, the provincial party committee made clear that workers need to “know the feelings of the people in and out” given the upcoming celebration of the nation’s biggest holiday (Kim Jong Il’s birthday on Feb. 16). The committee ordered that commerce department workers avoid overlooking even one word of public opinion and write down any complaints to report to the party.
In fact, the party provincial committee had commerce department workers carry around notebooks containing “records of people’s feelings in local markets.” Meanwhile, people’s committees were ordered to frequently inspect the notebooks to “find clues to implement policies that improve the stability of people’s lives.”
Translated by Jason Mallet
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