Despite North Korean authorities calling for the creation of all-youth work squads to help young people settle in agricultural communities, many young people still struggle to adapt, with some disappearing from their workplaces entirely.
“Six members of a youth work squad at a farm in a village in Ryongyon county fled in the first half of the year,” a Daily NK source in South Hwanghae province said recently. “The reality of agricultural villages here is that even if farms create work squads made up of discharged soldiers or young people, half of their members run away within two years.”
For several years, Ryongyon county has established villages of discharged soldiers in rural districts, providing them homes to develop them as “zealous youth” to become the foundation of agricultural communities, while ordering the operation of “discharged soldier work squads” made up solely of young veterans at every farm.
With ordinary youth eventually being included in these squads of retired soldiers, the organizations gradually became “youth work squads.” However, even young people who were initially enthusiastic about their work eventually find themselves constantly planning to escape their rural communities, while actual cases of going AWOL continue.
The operation of youth work squads on farms began as a way to help young people settle into agricultural communities, as the state continues to deploy discharged soldiers and other young people to rural towns suffering from labor shortages in response to repeated annual calls to raise food production.
The state believed that by placing young people of the same age group in the same work squad, they would naturally develop a spirit of cooperation and competition and grow more enthusiastic about their work.
Support efforts fall short
Farm officials examined the difficulties young people faced in their lives and work, paying special attention to help them adjust well to rural communities.
However, despite this systematic and psychological support, young people have been unable to overcome the backbreaking work and hardships, as cases of young people running away from their communities continue.
In response, farms have considered alternatives such as giving young people flexible work, such as livestock care or security guard duties, instead of farming, but this has done little to stop young people from fleeing.
“All that has been achieved by organizing work units like the youth squads is to select a handful of zealous individuals in each squad as basic workers and settle them in agricultural communities,” the source said. “However, many more young people just resign themselves to their positions, with no interest or desire in their assigned jobs and constantly asking whether there were ‘better places to go.’ And such young people continue to run off.”
Young people appear ready to leave their agricultural villages as soon as signs appear that the authorities will push for expanded production or tighten restrictions.
“For elementary-level farm officials like the work group party cell secretary, Socialist Patriotic Youth League secretary or agit-prop team members, tracking down and catching runaway youth has become their primary job, so they’ve put their original duties on hold,” the source said. “Farms are a complete mess.”
