Unification Media Group (UMG): We’re back for another rundown of the latest news and market trends from North Korea.
Kang Mi Jin (Kang): North Korea is in the height of organic fertilizer allocation (green manure) season on collective farms. It’s usually slightly cooler than in the South, but this year the heat wave has been severe throughout the peninsula and people in the North are really suffering. Most try to get out and get some work done before the sun comes up or after it goes down. They also go to the rivers to cool down.
UMG: Is this an annual occurrence?
Kang: The allocation of organic fertilizers really ramped up after the collapse of the Soviet Union due to the subsequent dearth of aid to North Korea, namely chemical fertilizers in this case. Because the grass cutting process for organic fertilizer directly follows the weeding period, it’s a grueling ordeal for those involved. The June 28 New Economic Management Measures also introduced the “field management system,” which reduced the number of people in agricultural work teams and extended the weeding and cutting periods.
Those who maintain personal farming plots near their homes often have to travel significant distances to find grass varieties for green manure and then figure out ways to transport it back to their plots. Sometimes when I’m in rural areas of South Korea and see all the bags of fertilizer piled up at farms and being ferried on trucks, my mind drifts back to the farmers I knew in North Korea and I wish they had the same support.
UMG: Our heart goes out to all the North Koreans struggling to get through this unprecedented heatwave gripping the peninsula. Here of course people have no shortage of ways to cool down, with demand for cold foods soaring lately. What’s selling well in North Korea?
Kang: Well of course cold buckwheat noodles (naengmyon) are flying off the shelves in the markets along with cold cucumber soup with potato starch noodles. The demand is so high they can’t make all the noodles in-house, even if they have noodle-making devices, so they order from factories to keep up with demand. When the temperature soars above 35 degrees Celsius, boiling noodles while crouching over a gas stove is brutal.
Most of the naengmyong using real buckwheat noodles can only be found in Pyongyang, but potato noodles are most common throughout the rest of the country.
UMG: South Koreans are also lining up outside naengmyon restaurants across the country but we don’t typically see potato noodles here. Are they difficult to make?
Kang: All it really takes is making a simple dough from potato starch, cutting it into strips, and then boiling it, or drying it if you want to store it. It keeps for up to a year at room temperature so it’s a favorite among family restaurant businesses.
UMG: Fruit is another item that South Koreans can’t get enough of during the summer, especially watermelon and Korean melon (chamoe). Are those common in North Korea?
In North Korea, plums are a best seller at the moment, as are apricots, peaches, and mountain berries because these are the most readily available. In North Hamgyong Province, 1 kg of plums goes for about 4,000 KPW and 4,440-4,600 KPW in Ryanggang Province. Once they’re out of season they’re virtually impossible to get, so they sell out quickly. Improvements in refrigeration and transportation have enabled more people across the country to enjoy them as well, which was pretty unthinkable just a few years ago.
