[imText1]Currenlty, soldiers are involved to haverst the year’s farming in the farm areas. Every fall, food is harvested and taken to the army, and the miltary is involved mainly to protect food from people stealing food.
Xugumin, a Overseas Chinese who visited China on October 2 says, “soldiers come down every fall to harvest food, and they are the soldiers sent to secure every grain.”
Xugumin, whom The DailyNK met in Changabi added, “the military sent as food inspector stop all the cars pass by and go through all the belongings.
His description of the situation is an evidence of continuation of the military surveillance to secure food that started in the mid 1990s
After the “military-first movement” was declared in 1995, the military gained a significant amount of social power. “Purge of Reactionary Element,” which was carried out by the National Safety and Security Department (government organ similar to the National Intelligence Service of South Korea)before, is not conducted by the army headquarter and the “anti-socilaist crack down” usually done by the Social Safety Department (police) is now a reponsbility of the military headquarter as well.
After that, the military in North Korea became fear itself for the people. On top of that, now the military is reponsible for harvesting grains.
Xugumin says ten to twenty armed soldiers go around the towns and farms to look over the grain in his hometowm since September.
“Robbers of the Military Food the Enemy Destroying Socialism”
Military started harvest in the mid 1990s wiht the start of the food crisis. Before that, military food was controlled by the “No. 2 Management Department” of the Party was reponsieblt for the military food.
Military was the numebr one subject of the (state) food providence, and the state distributed food the people with what was left. Druing the mid 1990s, in the period so called “march of tribulation”, people would steal corns even before they were ripe. There was no food for even the military.
As the situation worsened over time, the state allotted the cooperative farmed previously controlled by the “No. 2 Management Department” to the military compounds and made each compound to collect the food for themselves. Because there was a possibility that food can be stolen if it goes through an organ made up of civilians, they made a system where miltiary directly collect the food for themselves.
The farmers of the cooperative farms are under special surveillance. For this reason, there is a high resentment among the leaders of the cooperative farm staff, who protest, “who farms and who controls?”
Soldiers watch over the grain plants and corn plants so the people cannot steal them and sometimes they even conduct surprise inspections to confiscate food from the people. They do not even allow making a meal for the people who come to visit in support of the agriculture sector.
The military sent to control the food exercise special privilege of power as local martial soldiers. They have arm patches that say “inspection staff” and they stop the cars on the streets and conduct inspections of belongs, especially for grain. People’s resentment about such military acitivies is ever more increasing.
The guard soldiers each carry one misfire and two bullets when then go out for night patrol. The commander orders them, “the first shot is for warning and if the robber does not stop then the second could be used for a real shot.” The soldiers say, “those who steal miltiary food are enemist who are trying to destroy the socialism (socialist regime).
During the food crisis, there are so many people who died from gunshot of the military. People had few corns under her basket had her face burn because they threw a misfire to her, a man of his twenties dies on the spot of gunshot for entering a corn field.
Civilians are Thieves, Military are Robbers
Poeple say, “if we are thieves, then the miltiary are robbers.” The military illegally circulate the harvested food, and commit many illegal activities such as allowing peopel’s stealing of military food by with bribes.
The inspection soldiers are sent, they already have a “place” to go. The owner of the place and the soldiers make deals. During the soldiers’ stay, the owner provides liquor and meat and is paid in grain. Even the generals turn blind eye on such deals when they receive this kind of illegal treatments.
For example, when a soldier catches a food thief, he takes away the food and sell the food at the ratio of 5:5 to the “place.” Sometimes the soldiers allow the owners of the “place” steal the food from the farms. They sell the food stolen together and divide the profit also in the ratio of 5:5. If the food does not get sold immediately, the soldier usually yields to the owner and received the money later.
The people who have survived through the food crisis say,”If you do not work (steal) a day in the fall, you starve ten days in the spring.” So spent sleepless nights “working”. In 1997, half of the food were stolen from the farm in the beginning of fall even before the time for the harvest. It was an evil cycle created by the Kim Jong Il regime.
The Party sent the military to guard on the food, the soldiers are making a profit working hand in hand with the civilians, by stealing and smuggling food. In the end, the government has “let the cat guard the fish.”
It wil worrisome whether there will be any food left to reach the people this year as previous years after the miltary take their food and some smuggled into illegal markets.
