This is “NK Market Trends,” bringing you
weekly updates on the North Korean economy. The weather seemed to have gotten a
little warmer last week, but temperatures are frigid again. I had to turn up my
coat collar on my way to work. When the weather gets cold like this all of a
sudden, I do wonder how North Koreans deal with it. So today we’ll be looking
at some of the ways that people cope with sudden cold snaps in the North. So we
have reporter Kang Mi Jin with us to tell us more about this.
It’s so cold these
days, people on the streets pretty much walk around with their faces buried in
their scarves. I was really cold in the morning as well, so I wrapped my scarf
around one more time. The temperatures in the North are lower than in the
South, so despite these icy conditions reaching as low as 25 degrees Celsius
below freezing, people are still out at the jangmadang (markets, official or
otherwise) selling goods. North Koreans have a strong sense of self-dependency,
and it’s already well known that they look for their
own ways to combat the cold even if the state has no interest in helping people
gear up for the cold or providing them with heating facilities. They are
already learning on their own to overcome difficulties even if no one teaches
them how.
So, despite the biting cold, they’re looking for their own ways to fight against the conditions. Today
I’d like to introduce some of the ways that people use
to stay warm at the marketplace. Under temperatures like those we saw recently,
it would have been very cold no matter how tightly you bundle up in down
jackets, winter shoes, and gloves, right? But just because it’s cold, they can’t just stop selling their
goods, so they’re using all kinds of methods to stay warm.
Right. If they have to stay outside all day
to sell their goods, have they come up with some creative methods to stay warm?
Usually people didn’t really use personal heating devices, but this year, individual
(briquette) heaters have become very popular, so they sell well at the market,
and some people even make them at home using tinned iron. Some people come to
work with hot water bottles, and these bottles from China have been an immense
help to vendors who have to stand out in the cold selling their goods. People
fill up their hot water bottles when they leave the house and tie them around
their stomachs. After lunch, they’ll go to a home close
by to the market and buy hot water to refill their bottles, and they say people
love it because the hot water bottles keep them warm until evening.
On days like these, when the weather is
so cold, I don’t see a lot of the usual street vendors
out in the South. It makes me wonder if that might be the case in the North as
well.
North Koreans are very tough when it comes
to fighting the cold weather. At least once a year, they must take part in a
winter evacuation drill, which sometimes forces them to spend the night out in
the mountains, so however cold it may be, the conditions wouldn’t be able to deter their spirits. I, and those around me, found the
best way to get through it is to dig out the snow to create a little
burrow and wrap blankets around you. This actually makes it pretty bearable. I
was born and raised in a cold area, so I guess it made me more immune to it.
The weather may be cold, but if people don’t go out and
sell their goods, it can create instability for their livelihoods, so most
vendors still head out. Especially because on February 16, Kim Jong Il’s birthday, people weren’t able to work,
more people came out after that despite the cold.
I was surprised, though, when I heard that
almost everyone had come out to the market with their personal briquette
heaters, hot water bottles, and layers and layers of down clothing. Another
thing is, you know how even if it’s cold, if there are
a lot of people the surrounding temperature goes up because of the crowd?
People say there’s a significant difference at the
market as well, depending on how many people are out. Also, if you have people
firing up their briquette heaters here and there, the temperature around the
area starts climbing, making it more manageable to sell goods there.
When the weather gets cold in South Korea,
winter clothes and gloves sell really well. I’m sure
that’s echoed in the North.
Of course one of the most important things
is getting a down jacket, since people need to travel long distances for their
business or work in the markets. Unlike the South, where people are exposed to
the cold for shorter periods of time after they leave the house because they
get on warm subways or buses, in the North people have to fight against the
cold all day while they sell their goods. So insulated jackets are the most
important of all goods, and women wear down winter hats and sometimes wrap a
huge scarf around their neck and heads as well.
And just as I mentioned a short while ago,
briquette heaters I think would be some of the best-selling items. Some of the
heaters are produced by some state-run companies or part of the 8.3 system, but
most of them are made by individuals. Again, one of the things North Koreans
are best at is providing for themselves. Even in their battle against the cold,
their spirit of self-dependence is put to good use.
If the heaters are selling well, I would
imagine more people are buying briquettes as well.
Of course. As the weather gets colder, more
people look to keep their homes warm as well and with the larger number of
heater users at the market, briquettes are in greater demand. The people making
briquettes are even bringing the ones that they made to use at home out to the
market to sell. They want to sell what they can while they’re in demand and then produce more for their home supplies once the
weather starts getting a little warmer, so a lot of people are bringing out
their stockpile of briquettes.
The cold weather, I imagine, would also create
some interesting scenes at the market.
There’s the sale of
boiling water that’s interesting. Vendors like to buy
this hot water sometimes to drink since hot water keeps their stomachs warm and
helps them fend off the cold a bit. Also, some of the vendors who live farther
away from the market can’t go home to reheat the water
in their water bottles, so they buy this boiling water. Plastic sheeting is
also said to be popular. People say if they make a little pocket big enough to
put their shoes in, it helps prevent their toes from getting too cold.
So there really are a number of ways to
deal with the cold. You have briquettes, hot water bottles, and boiling water,
but how about their prices at the market?
One briquette sells for 1,500 KPW at the
five markets in Hyesan city in Yanggang Province. The hot water bottles from
China range from 5 to 20 RMB [1 RMB currently trades for 1,320 KPW]. In KRW,
that would amount to paying around 950 KRW-3,800 KRW. Boiling water that they
sell in front of stations and at the market goes for about 1,000 KPW for a
liter. People that are forced to live on the streets sometimes for days because
of power outages that grind trains to a halt need water to wash their faces and
keep their stomachs warm, so they line up to buy this water. This water comes
from Amnok River, so there’s no money involved in the
actual procurement of water, but they need briquettes or firewood to heat up
the water, so they sell it for quite a high price. Even though it’s 1,000 KPW, there’s still a lot of demand
from vendors, and that seems to keep those selling it happy as well.
It’s good to know
that all these creative methods are being used by people in the North to stay
warm. Let’s now turn to jangmadang prices from this
week.
We’ll begin by providing a rundown of the
price of rice, the currency conversion rates, and the cost of other goods in
North Korean markets. The price of 1 kg of rice was 5,019 KPW in Pyongyang,
5,000 KPW in Sinuiju, and 5,150 KPW in Hyesan. The cost of 1 kg of corn kernels
was 1,980 KPW in Pyongyang, 1,960 KPW in Sinuiju, and 2,100 KPW in Hyesan. The
USD was trading at 8,190 KPW in Pyongyang, 8,260 KPW in Sinuiju, and 8,210 KPW
in Hyesan. The Renminbi was trading at 1,320 KPW in Pyongyang, 1,330 KPW in
Sinuiju, and 1,300 KPW in Hyesan. Moving along, 1 kg of pork was selling at
10,560 KPW in Pyongyang, 10,500 KPW in Sinuiju, and 10,900 KPW in Hyesan.
Gasoline was trading at 6,710 KPW per kg in Pyongyang, 6,550 KPW in Sinuiju,
and 6,880 KPW in Hyesan. Finally, 1 kg of diesel fuel was selling at 5,150 KPW
in Pyongyang, and 5,000 KPW in both Sinuiju and Hyesan. This has been a rundown
of the latest market prices in North Korea.
