A performance evaluation chart at the Sunchon Thermal Power Plant was recently damaged by a worker at the facility, Daily NK has learned.
“Recently, a worker at the plant vandalized a performance chart on a bulletin board that is on the front gate of the power station,” a source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK yesterday. “The worker confessed that he committed the act because he was angry about being ranked low on the chart.”
Through continuous progress updates on the country’s five-year economic plan and promotion of the party’s major policies through various media outlets, North Korea has been pushing for more competitiveness between workers and among businesses.
During review periods, performance charts are hung up as a way to show who is doing well and who is not. In addition, party organizations use work performance as a measure of party loyalty in “party life evaluation reports.” Those responsible for poor performance are subject to administrative and even legal punishments.
Some workers at the Sunchon Thermal Power Plant appear to have been under immense pressure due to the government’s excessive push for competition, ultimately pushing one individual to commit an act of vandalism.
“Due to the incident, the power station party committee’s propaganda and agitation department and security department held a general meeting of employees,” the source said. “At this meeting, it was decided to ‘legally punish’ the worker who damaged the bulletin board.”
North Korean authorities perceived the damage to the performance chart as a sign of dissatisfaction with the party’s policies, rather than an individual act of deviant behavior. That explains why the authorities intend to punish the perpetrator strongly – to set an example to others.
However, concerns are being raised by local residents who believe that such an insignificant incident may be used to set an example for others to better adhere to the party’s rules and to be more “disciplined.”
“The decision to go with a legal punishment for simply damaging a bulletin board makes no sense,” said the source. “People are uneasy because they feel that they might be punished for making a small mistake.”
Translated by Gabriela Bernal
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