South Hamgyong Province authorities recently distributed materials warning young people not to engage in money-making activities outside of their assigned workplaces, a Daily NK reporting partner in South Hamgyong Province said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Based on the reporting partner’s account, political organizations at agencies and enterprises in Hamhung received “notification and indoctrination materials” in mid-February that included a list of problem cases, including that of the resignation of a young man in his 20s — identified by his family name of Kim — who worked at a factory in Hamhung.
According to the materials, Kim joined the factory as an engineer after graduating university and worked hard for several years, producing results while sincerely taking part in technological innovation efforts. Recently, however, he resigned from the factory citing health reasons.
However, knowing he could not quit the company without a reason, Kim prepared for a year to resign, lying about being sick and submitting multiple fake diagnoses from doctors.
The unsuspecting company, with no way of knowing otherwise, accepted Kim’s resignation request.
After resigning from the factory, he joined a company that required only light levels of labor from its employees. His employment at the company was just on paper; in reality, he earned money fixing electronics from home.
In fact, North Korea assigns workers having difficulty in their workplaces due to disease or disability to workplaces requiring work that is not physically taxing.
However, Kim — who was not really eligible for light labor — joined the light labor workplace while illegally engaging in money-earning activities.
His misdeeds came to light when several former factory coworkers visited Kim’s home.
When rumors spread among factory workers that Kim was making money at home fixing TVs and transformers ostensibly working at the light labor workplace – and that “he looked healthier and was living better than ever” – the factory’s managers immediately complained to the factory’s party committee that Kim was unjustly pursuing his own self interests.
Kim’s matter then got reported all the way to the South Hamgyong Province party committee.
The provincial party committee concluded that Kim’s actions could have a negative impact on society, so it ordered that his personal information — including his name, age and address — be included in notification and indoctrination materials for distribution to political organizations at agencies and enterprises.
Daily NK’s reporting partner said the provincial party committee used Kim’s example as an opportunity to put people on guard against an increasing tendency by young people to “be ashamed of working in a place earning little money, rather than following the example of revolutionary elders who worked until their retirement with little desire for honors or remuneration under the spirit of dying at one’s post if need be.”
During his indoctrination process by the provincial justice department, Kim explained that despite working hard at the factory for years, his wife was supporting the family through money earned at a local market.
“I could no longer watch my pregnant wife doing business in the cold, so I joined a light labor workplace and was going to earn money fixing electronics at home just until my wife gave birth,” he said. The provincial justice department authorities did not buy his story, however.
In the end, Kim was redeployed to his original workplace, while the political and administrative directors of the light labor workplace that Kim had joined were also called in by the provincial justice department to write self-criticism letters.
Meanwhile, the provincial justice department is using the incident to re-examine the medical documents and personal documents of all factory workers designated for light labor workplaces to determine if there are other cases like Kim’s, according to the reporting partner.
“The provincial justice department is investigating the circumstances surrounding young people ashamed about how little they make in factories or engaging in organizational life, warning that it will hand out forced labor and other criminal punishments depending on the severity of the offense.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
