Shenyang and Changchun, China — North Korean citizens in the border regions responded to the news about Kim Jong Il’s health problems with indifference, pointing out, “We worry more seriously about how to eat and survive.”
A merchant from Pyongyang who visited China on business spoke about Kim Jong Il’s incapacitation on Wednesday, noting that “I think it is wrong information. How can a person who is eating the best food everyday and lives in the best place in the world get sick?”
When a reporter let him know that the formal military inspection scheduled for September 9 had been cancelled and Kim did not appear on the podium, he said “Certainly not!” He added doubtfully that “I’ve heard the doctors who take care of him are the best, so how…”
A Chinese citizen residing in North Korea and involved in trade between China and North Korea was surprised at the news and presumed that “He won’t die so easily because he is always taking the best medicine and being taken care of by the best doctors.”
The Chinese merchant continued, “If Kim Jong Il dies, doctors and nurses cannot survive, so they will do their best. I am very curious as to how the people would react to that news of his situation if the cadres informed them of it.”
A source from Yangkang Province made his prediction in a telephone interview with the Daily NK this afternoon, saying that “I haven’t heard of the story that he got sick. People will think it is not so abnormal that he did not appear at the military inspection because Kim hasn’t been coming out at public places of late.”
He added that “For now, instead of this news, the potato harvest which started on September 6 is more worrisome for the people. Students above fourth grade in senior middle school and general workers are all mobilized gathering the potato harvest in their allocated potato fields.”
“It is a really big deal for the ordinary citizens who are living from hand to mouth because they have to go to the fields so they cannot go to the jangmadang (market),” he explained.
Another North Korea citizen residing in Jeongju, North Pyongan, who came to China to visit his relatives early this year but stays in China due to a passport problem, reacted to the news with joy, saying, “Oh dear! I hope it is true.”
He said that “If the people hear the news, everybody will be glad, even if only in their heart.”
“I can see why Chosun (North Korea) is so poor, after I came and lived here for several months. The reason why China became wealthy is that their leadership is decent. Chosun should open and reform its system as soon as possible. The problem is not that a person collapsed after a stroke, but that we have to take a chance to go forward down the path of opening and reform.”
