South Pyongan provincial authorities ordered all markets to operate with reduced hours (4-7 p.m.) from October 1 to November 2 to facilitate the fall harvest and winter preparations.
According to a source in the province recently, the commerce bureau of the provincial people’s committee said recently that this is an efficiency measure aimed at enabling all provincial residents to devote themselves to the harvest. The bureau also asked market vendors to help with the harvest, which must be completed quickly, and to strictly adhere to the prescribed opening and closing hours.
Some vendors responded positively to the commerce bureau’s announcement of reduced market hours, the source said.
“Business hasn’t been very good lately because many people are struggling financially. Some vendors are relieved that market hours have been cut during the fall harvest because it’s depressing to sit in the market all day without selling anything,” the source said.
But most vendors are upset that they will still have to pay the same market fees despite the reduced market hours.
According to the source, the provincial commerce bureau has told market management offices that they are expected to collect market fees despite the reduced market hours, and that they must still meet their monthly quotas.
“It is difficult for the market management offices to meet their monthly quotas [for fee collection] when people are helping with farm work in the spring and fall. Since the vendors have to help out on the farms, they don’t have as much time to run their stalls, and even then, business tends to be slow. So vendors tend to slip away before officials can come to collect fees,” the source said.
Merchants at a wholesale market in Pyongsong complain that they have difficulty doing business with wholesalers from Nampo and other areas because of the shortened market hours.
These merchants have petitioned the provincial commerce bureau to reconsider the shortened market hours, which they say are especially inconvenient for wholesalers in transit as the days grow shorter in the fall.
The provincial commerce bureau asked the merchants to be patient, stressing that the reduced market hours are a temporary measure that will only be in place for the month of October.
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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October 14, 2024 at 11:30AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)