While North Korea claims that 300,000 young people have volunteered for flood recovery work to promote national unity, most were forcibly recruited and the actual number of volunteers is less than 10,000.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in Pyongyang told The Daily NK on Tuesday that the figure of 300,000 is not the number of young people permanently assigned to reconstruction work in the flood-hit areas of North Pyongan and Ryanggang provinces, but includes adults temporarily mobilized for the project.
The Politburo of the Eighth Central Committee held its 22nd extended emergency meeting on July 29 and 30 to plan the reconstruction work in Sinuiju, North Pyongan province. According to the source, local party branches, factories and enterprises in each area were assigned a quota of workers to mobilize.
Party branches and labor organizations such as the Socialist Patriotic Youth League, the Korean General Confederation of Trade Unions and the Korean Federation of Agricultural Workers urged their members to participate in the reconstruction, which the source said could not be called volunteer work.
Recovery workers face difficult living conditions
The living conditions of the Mount Paektu Heroic Youth Shock Troops, a group currently engaged in flood recovery efforts, are so harsh that a number of the shock troops have abandoned the site.
The shock troops are shoring up embankments, building roads and repairing bridges in the humid weather without adequate breaks or enough water to shower or wash their clothes as they would like. Under these conditions, the source said, the shock troops are suffering from exhaustion.
Shock troop members are supposed to eat and sleep in makeshift tents, but it gets so hot inside the tents that it is reportedly unbearable during the day.
In addition, shock troop members are served only mixed corn and rice and doenjang soup for meals and are expected to provide their own side dishes. This leaves members with no choice but to ask their parents back home to send money.
“The working conditions for flood recovery are so bad that there have been a few deserters from each work group. The government is publicizing youth volunteerism as a way to promote young people’s loyalty to the party, but the fact is that young people and their parents are doing everything in their power to avoid being assigned to flood reconstruction work,” the source said.
“No one wants to join the shock troops when they’re working themselves to death, and when even hard workers aren’t guaranteed party membership. Still, some young people endure the harsh conditions in the shock troops in the hope of being admitted to the party.”
On Aug. 6, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended a ceremony for the Mount Paektu Heroic Youth Shock Troops, who were assigned to clean up flooded areas, in the square in front of the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang.
“Less than a week after the decision to send the Mount Paektu Heroic Youth Shock Troops to build houses in the flood-stricken areas of Sinuiju and Uiju county, nearly 300,000 young people have decided to take part in the reconstruction work. I want to show the world what noble young people we have in our country,” Kim said at the ceremony.
The Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.
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