North Korea rushed to deliver holiday gifts to the families of high-ranking members of the party, government and military on the birthday of leader Kim Jong Un on Jan. 8. The gifts were reportedly delivered secretly in the wee hours of the morning to avoid provoking envy among the general population.
A source inside North Korea told Daily NK on Tuesday that the gifts were provided to a thousand or so families of members of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), Cabinet members, and senior members of the military.
On Jan. 2, North Korea reportedly conveyed the plan for the quick distribution of holiday gifts for Kim’s birthday to the ration centers used by members of the first-tier of the Workers’ Party, government and military.
In contrast with the ration centers used by the general public, the first-tier ration centers provide groceries, food products and consumer goods to tier members on a monthly and quarterly basis.
The first-tier ration centers reportedly delivered goods using military trucks with covered beds and a fleet of a hundred buses between midnight and 2 AM each morning from Jan. 4 to Jan. 7.
The buses, which are typically reserved for transporting participants to major events in North Korea, were mobilized to streamline the early morning gift delivery, the source explained. The military trucks are reportedly used for urgently transporting staff and material on orders from the WPK Central Committee.
“The gift packages include some 20 items, including 10 kilograms of pork, 10-14 frozen chickens, 10 kilograms of frozen pollack, 10 kilograms of frozen Pacific saury, 10 kilograms of frozen flounder, apples, tangerines, dried fruit, cooking oil, vinegar, sugar and artificial seasoning,” the source said.
“The presents were delivered in complete secrecy over a few days in the early morning hours. After high-quality frozen chickens, frozen seafood and cooking oils went on sale in the markets during the day on Jan. 7, shopkeepers began spreading the word that holiday gifts had been delivered to high-ranking officials,” he added.
In South Korea, “early morning delivery” is generally used to mean that items ordered on a given day will be delivered early the next morning. But in North Korea, the term refers to delivering goods to members of a privileged class in the early morning hours to avoid attention from the general public.
“In the past, the holiday gifts provided by ration centers weren’t much different from regular rations, so families would pick up their gifts in person. But since these gifts are only given to certain officials, they were delivered en masse in the early morning hours,” the source said.
The source said the Workers’ Party had decided to deliver the gifts in the early hours to hide them not only from the general public but also from cadres who were not among the 1,000 or so families on the list of recipients.
Some families that were not on the list for the gifts on Kim’s birthday complained that “the senior members of the Workers’ Party tell us not to be self-serving even while they exploit their authority to serve themselves,” the source added.
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