As North Koreans busily prepare for winter, the number of households making their own coal briquettes for heating in cities such as Sinuiju, North Pyongan province, has plummeted this year. Not only is making briquettes a hassle, but people have fewer places to dry them, so more people are purchasing them from marketplaces.
According to a Daily NK source in North Pyongan province recently, residents of Sinuiju are busy preparing for winter, but it is harder to find families who are making their own briquettes for home heating.
In the past, every household would buy coal powder and fashion it into briquettes in September and October, and one often saw rows of such briquettes drying in front of homes or in empty public spaces. However, most people this year are buying finished briquettes at the market.
“There’s been a lot of autumnal rain this year, so the climate hasn’t been good for drying briquettes, and empty public spaces have been turned into flower beds as part of urban beautification efforts, so there aren’t enough places to dry them,” the source said. “This is a big reason why people aren’t making their own briquettes.”
Quality concerns drive shift to professional production
Of course, families can save significantly on heating costs by making their own briquettes from purchased coal powder. Given that a single family might use hundreds of briquettes, these savings cannot be ignored.
However, when one considers the hassle, including the work that goes into making the briquettes and the need to watch them day and night to prevent theft, more people think simply buying them from the market is better, the source said.
Moreover, people overwhelmingly believe that briquettes purchased from the market have several advantages—they are well-dried and of better quality than homemade ones, so they burn better and release less carbon monoxide.
The increased supply of professionally produced briquettes by fueling stations nationwide has also had an impact, the source added. People inevitably prefer briquettes produced by professional processes to homemade ones because they are more consistent in quality.
However, people who cannot afford to buy briquettes at the market still purchase coal powder and make their own briquettes when needed.
The problem is that, as people make their own briquettes on a case-by-case basis, they end up using ones that have not yet dried thoroughly. Wet briquettes not only burn less efficiently, but they are also more likely to emit deadly gases, endangering lives.
“Because poorer families have no choice but to burn lower-quality briquettes, they are more at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning,” the source said. “They were already unable to prepare for winter because they had no money, and they must also risk accidents. The reality they face is quite sad.”
Thus, this difference in home heating methods due to the wealth gap is leading to a social problem: “safety inequality.”
