North Korean street sellers are taking a direct hit to their livelihoods as the authorities intensify their COVID-19-era curbs on streetside commerce. The intensified crackdowns is causing greater friction between street sellers and police officers.
Businesspeople who sell food or vegetables on the street do so because they cannot afford to rent booths in local markets. Placed in impoverished conditions – and unable to make a living due to continued crackdowns on their businesses – these people cannot make KPW 1,000 a day, even if they spend all day on the streets. Faced with constant harassment from the police and enforcement teams, these businesspeople are fighting back, even engaging in head-on clashes with the authorities.
Daily NK recently conducted interviews with two street sellers, one in North Hamgyong Province and the other Yanggang Province. The interviews provide insight into the poor standard of living street sellers face and how serious their friction with the police and enforcement teams has become.
One of the interviewees, an individual identified as “A” who sells vegetables on the street in North Hamgyong Province, told Daily NK that “before COVID-19, even if the state cracked down on streetside commerce, you could still make a living by steering clear of enforcement agents, except for special situations like when Central Committee inspectors came to town. But, nowadays, enforcement agents are enthusiastically cracking down on our businesses on a daily basis.”
“A” further told Daily NK that “if we have nothing in our pockets, we have to starve. You have to sell things to make money, but since we’re hunted in daily crackdowns, we can’t sell anything and are forced to take on losses. Driven to the verge of starvation, we have only anger left. So, when we’re caught in a crackdown, we fling ourselves at the enforcement agents in a suicidal sort of way. I think not a day goes by when people like me don’t fight with the enforcement agents.”
The other interviewee, an individual identified as “B” who sells rice cakes in Yanggang Province, told Daily NK that “the government gives us nothing; it’s just keen to carry out crackdowns and restrict our business activities. The authorities treat people who are forced to sell things on the street as criminals, and things are so bad that when we see police officers, we curse them as ‘people with neither blood nor tears.’”
“B” further told Daily NK that “because I have to make a living, I walk an hour to town everyday with my three-year-old child on my back. However, even before I can put out my wares, enforcement agents come up and growl at me to leave immediately. So, I wrap up my wares and move to a different place, but as soon as I start putting out my wares, enforcement agents appear out of nowhere. When I look at myself, wandering around to sell things in the blazing sun with a child on my back, I wonder why I have to live like this. When that sorrow explodes into anger, I fight with the police, foaming at the mouth.”
How much do street sellers make per day amid these contact crackdowns?
“A” told Daily NK that “you need to make more than KPW 3,000 a day to just buy corn gruel, but we can’t even make KPW 500. Since COVID-19, everyone’s lives have gotten worse. However, the lives of people who live day-to-day selling things on the street have gotten especially worse. People are exhausted and barely holding on amid crackdowns to stop them from selling things. We hit the streets despite the continued crackdowns because if we don’t earn money we can even drink water. We have to fiercely struggle just to find a way to sell things.”
Meanwhile, “B” told Daily NK that “if you make KPW 200,000 a month, you can make a living surviving on rice mixed with grain, but I make KPW 1,000 only five or so days a month. I can’t even afford gruel since it’s harder to make money because of the crackdowns.”
“B” went on to say that “rice sellers let you buy on credit for only three or four days. After that, they don’t extend you credit. Even if you make KPW 1,000 a day, that’s the price of 300 grams of corn, and it’s exceptionally rare to earn that much. So, if you’ve got no money and can’t buy on credit, the only thing left is to starve. Moreover, our neighborhood was a tough place to live to start with, and now, every family faces greater hardship than before. Some people have swollen faces from hunger, while others are just skin and bones. Some days, I’ve been hit with the scary thought that all of us are just going to die. Families that were well-off before are still doing well, while middle-class families can still eat. The problem is people like us. We’re miserable because we’re not allowed to earn money in peace.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. 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.
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