{"id":44168,"date":"2020-03-17T13:31:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T04:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=44168"},"modified":"2026-04-05T14:33:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:33:02","slug":"samjiyon-market-shutdown-rumors-fly-about-kim-jong-un-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/samjiyon-market-shutdown-rumors-fly-about-kim-jong-un-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Samjiyon Market closed as rumors fly about Kim Jong Un visit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Samjiyon Market was abruptly shut down yesterday in what may be part of preparations for a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the city, Daily NK sources reported yesterday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe market management office told merchants not to open their stalls at 1 PM yesterday, an hour before the market opened,\u201d a Ryanggang Province-based source told Daily NK.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMerchants were told not to open their stalls, even those out in the street near the market and other vendors in mobile stalls who are licensed to do business by the state,\u201d the source added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The market\u2019s management office also told merchants not to enter the market \u201cuntil further notice,\u201d the source said, adding, \u201cThe authorities have completely shut down the market.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The entrance to the market on Samjiyon Village Street is shut, Daily NK sources in the city confirmed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe market closure doesn\u2019t seem connected to the coronavirus [COVID-19] because no merchants have been quarantined,\u201d one source told Daily NK.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A KIM JONG UN VISIT IN THE WORKS?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some people in the city are reportedly speculating that the closure of Samjiyon Market is part of preparations for Kim Jong Un\u2019s visit to the city.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The market has generally shut its doors when a visit by the North Korean leader is imminent, sources said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Doubts remain among local city residents about whether Kim will show up, however. Daily NK sources are not aware of Kim\u2019s special train passing near Samjiyon, nor are there other signs of an imminent visit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_42520\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42520\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-42520 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/\uae40\uc815\uc740-\uc0bc\uc9c0\uc5f0_2-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Samjiyon market work units\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/\uae40\uc815\uc740-\uc0bc\uc9c0\uc5f0_2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/\uae40\uc815\uc740-\uc0bc\uc9c0\uc5f0_2-696x464.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/\uae40\uc815\uc740-\uc0bc\uc9c0\uc5f0_2-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/\uae40\uc815\uc740-\uc0bc\uc9c0\uc5f0_2.jpg 741w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-42520\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A panorama view of Samjiyon County, now called Samjiyon City, in Ryanggang Province. \/ Image: Rodong Sinmun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That being said, Kim could be heading to Samjiyon by special car or plane, sources speculated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kim last visited Samjiyon in early December to take part in a ceremony commemorating the completion of the \u201csecond stage\u201d of construction in Samjiyon. Samjiyon was also designated a city at that time, an upgrade from its previous designation as a \u201ccounty.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kim visited Samjiyon three times in 2019, but has not yet made a visit to the region in 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BEAUTIFYING THE CITY<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily NK sources also noted that Samjiyon is in the midst of a city-wide \u201cbeautification campaign.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Korea has designated March and April a period for \u201cspring cleaning\u201d aimed at \u201ccleansing\u201d the &#8220;physical and mental state&#8221; of North Koreans. The period is also meant to get the population ready for celebrations surrounding Kim Il Sung\u2019s birthday on April 15.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The cleanliness campaign involves repairing and beautifying streets and their surroundings, including putting new paint on buildings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A recent Rodong Sinmun article described March and April as the \u201cspring clean-up\u201d period and stated that it is a crucial time to clean the streets, towns, workplaces and homes along with \u201creinforcing ideological convictions\u201d among the public and \u201carm\u201d them with \u201cpatriotic spirit.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe local people\u2019s committee has ordered the population to sweep the streets, wipe down statues, pick up trash, and even remove laundry visible from the outside of apartment buildings,\u201d one source in the city told Daily NK.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the city\u2019s residents reportedly suspect that the combination of the closure of the markets and the people\u2019s committee\u2019s orders to beautify the city may point to an imminent visit by Kim Jong Un.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>*Translated by Violet Kim<\/em><\/p>\n<p><i>Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Samjiyon Market was abruptly shut down yesterday in what may be part of preparations for a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the city, Daily NK sources reported yesterday. \u201cThe market management office told merchants not to open their stalls at 1 PM yesterday, an hour before the market opened,\u201d a Ryanggang [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":43110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[165,271,724,763],"class_list":["post-44168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-samjiyon","tag-ryanggang-province","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-covid-19"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - 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