Students in Yanggang Province — one of North Korea’s most important potato-producing regions — have reportedly been mobilized to dig up potatoes for a month.
According to a Daily NK source in Yanggang Province on Thursday, the authorities issued the mobilization order to high schools, vocational schools and universities in Hyesan early this month.
The order called on schools to have students arrive at the farms in their charge by Sept. 11 and begin digging up potatoes from the next day.
Students in Yanggang Province — a major potato producer — are mobilized for spud duty every harvest season. According to the source, this year is no different.
The students will be digging potatoes for a month, from Sept. 12 to Oct. 10. The source said schools brought students to the farms in their charge between Sept. 10 and Sept. 11 — in accordance with the order from the provincial party’s education department.
Schools are reportedly tasking the students with providing the food, side dishes and seasonings needed for the mobilization period.
In fact, one class at Hyemyong Senior Middle School in Hyesan ordered each student to ensure 15 kilograms of rice, one bottle of cooking oil, 100 grams of seasoning, 500 grams of soybean paste, 200 grams of red pepper powder and 300 grams of salt. Another class at the school ordered each student to provide 12 kilograms of rice and KPW 150,000 to buy side dishes.
North Korea calls on people to come together to support agricultural work every spring and fall. However, most units ordered to assist agricultural efforts dump the responsibility for producing food onto individuals.
This is nothing new, but with families once again forced to cough up a ton of food and money during the agricultural support period even as they endure hardships due to the protracted COVID-19 pandemic, school parents are reportedly very unhappy.
In particular, the source says some homeroom teachers are using the mobilization as a means to make money, offering to exclude students from well-off families from potato duty in return for payments of RMB 700 to RMB 1,000, much to the ire of parents.
“School teachers are using the agricultural mobilizations, including potato harvesting, as a means to make money,” said the source. “But perhaps because life is so tough this year, no students are asking to be excluded, so teachers are forcing students to pay to be excluded from the mobilization.
“It’s to the point that one wonders whether the yearly agricultural mobilizations are to lend a hand to farmers or fill the pockets of teachers,” he continued, adding, “In particular, school parents who are living day-to-day are complaining about the cost of providing food to their children who must live on farms during the mobilization period.”
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