The North Hwanghae Province People’s Committee is warning the recipients of newly built rural homes that they will be sent to labor camps unless they promptly move into their homes, Daily NK has learned.
“Some families haven’t moved into their new homes even though the buildings have been inspected, housing certificates have been provided, and housewarming events have been held. The provincial people’s committee has responded by giving householders orders via their employers to finish moving in by early September, before the 75th Day of the Foundation of the Republic on Sept. 9,” a source in North Hwanghae Province told Daily NK on Aug. 10, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“According to the orders from the provincial people’s committee, recipients of the newly built houses are required, without exception, to move into their new homes before the 75th Day of the Foundation of the Republic. The orders also state that anyone who fails to make the move by the specified date will be handed over to the police for transportation to disciplinary labor centers.”
The source said that many of the newly constructed houses in rural areas in North Hwanghae Province remain empty because the residents assigned to those houses have not moved in yet.
“The houses aren’t ready for immediate occupancy because septic tanks haven’t been built yet,” he explained.
Government officials who were determined to report the completion of the rural home construction plan in the first half of the year handed out residency permits for the new homes and carried out housewarming events before sewage facilities were even built, the source said.
In one rural area in Koksan County, workers dug crude pits at a depth of 0.5 meter in the gardens behind houses as a makeshift measure right before residents moved in. Wastewater from the kitchen and bathroom is drained into the pit, but families cannot use water freely for fear the pit will overflow.
“For these homes to be livable, individual homeowners have to dig a deeper pit and cover it with a cement lid or build their own sewage system. Some shoddy homes don’t even have the pit, and instead have pipes that run from the kitchen into a nearby ditch. The people there are in horribly unsanitary conditions because of the swarms of flies and maggots,” the source said.
Move in or get sent to labor camps
Without doing anything to address these issues, the provincial people’s committee is insisting that families move into their new houses before Sept. 9 and even threatening to throw householders into labor camps if they do not move in, the source said. That has apparently aroused grumbling among people left with no choice but to immediately get ready to move into their new houses.
“People have strong opinions about being obliged to move into nonfunctional houses, but they basically have to obey orders from officials who are only concerned with getting everyone into their new homes by Sept. 9 regardless of the actual conditions,” the source said.
“These ostensibly new houses may look fine on the outside, but residents have to install the heating, put up the wallpaper and tile the floors by themselves. The homes that were allocated this spring need some major work and would probably not be ready for occupancy until this fall, but people assigned to the homes aren’t being given that kind of time and are being bullied into moving with threats about being sent to a disciplinary labor center. People are voicing their frustration about having to focus on home repairs during the busy farming season.”
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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