Amid reports that North Hamgyeong Province (among others) totters on the brink of famine, the North Korean regime is desperately trying to shut down markets and regain state control of the food supply. The regime has long used food to sustain those it trusts and control those it doesn’t. I’ve written about North Korea’s accelerating food crisis in some detail recently.
This year, food shortages are reported even in elite Pyongyang, a place the regime has long fed at the expense of every other part of the country. Some analysts believe that the markets are the only thing standing between North Korea and a second Great Famine. The last one probably killed millions.
(New readers: the Daily NK is run in large part by North Korean defectors. It relies mostly on clandestine reports and rumors, since that’s about all the reporting that’s possible from inside North Korea. I have written some pieces for them.)
Recently the regime banned women under the age of 49 from trading, but fear of the regime is fading faster than firing squads can restore it. In the city of Haeju, once North Korea’s rice bowl, women literally fought back when the security forces tried to shut down their stalls:
In Haeju, South Hwanghae Province on February 5th, physical fights between young women trying to do business in the corners of markets and the guards regulating the markets erupted. Consequently, nine people, including Lee Chun Hee (38), were detained by the People’s Safety Agency, reported a newsletter disseminated by Good Friends, a nongovernmental aid organization to North Korea, on the 19th.
The newsletter revealed, “Women who have been detained underwent severe investigations, being asked ‘Who is your ringleader?” and on the 4th day, Lee, who could not endure the investigations, confessed that she was the mastermind and was retained while the rest of the women were all released.” [Daily NK]
The Daily NK reports that the authorities have since quit enforcing the edict. An even more remarkable event followed an attempt by security forces to enforce the ban in the northeastern city of Chongjin, according the the NGO Good Friends:
[…] “In Chongjin, North Hamkyung Province on March 3rd, a mass occurrence by female merchants took place, so the city authorities have permitted sales by all females without an age restriction.”
The market guards, including in Soonam and Shinam Districts, removed the products sold by females under the permitted age limit to outside of the market. Female merchants who were indignant by this collectively raised objections to the market guards, “If we cannot conduct business, the heads of households cannot go to work either.”
Immediately after the mass protests of the female merchants, the Chongjin authorities reported the incident to the central Party, but it has been known that due to the lack of a clear policy, all women could engage in sales without a restriction in age.
The source relayed the news, “The enforcement units of the Chongjin Party Committee reluctantly permitted sales by female merchants, but this case has not been approved by the Central Party, so there is significant concern regarding punishment at a later time.” [Id.]
This is not the first report we’ve heard of a protest in North Korea over market restrictions. In December 2006, the Daily NK also reported that approximately 100 merchants and family members in the city of Hoeryong protested at a local government office when the regime sold them trading licenses, then refused to let them trade in their local market. The regime later executed one of the “leaders” and arrested 20 others. That was the last we heard of them.
Protests are still very rare in North Korea, but they may be less rare than you think. I’ve compiled a detailed chronology of incidents of dissent, protest, and mutiny in North Korea. You’ve probably never heard of most of these events because Kim Jong Il’s regime is very good at keeping secrets.
Desperate people do brave things. Chongjin was one of the cities that was hardest hit by the Great Famine, and its people have felt hunger and watched it kill their loved ones. They’re willing to risk a firing squad – or worse – to trade, because if there are no rations, trading is the only way to survive.
If we have begun to see public disturbances this early in the spring — traditionally, the leanest time of year in North Korea — it’s likely we’ll see more disturbances and, in all probability, a brutal reaction by the regime to restore its control. North Korea’s population is spread out fairly evenly across its land area, and most towns are isolated from one another by mountainous terrain, poor infrastructure, and no efficient means for people to communicate between cities. The regime can survive a significant amount of localized unrest in the countryside, as long as the security forces remain loyal and united. But with shortages reaching even Pyongyang, even that is called into question this year.
