Workers in Hoeryong have been ordered to collect 3-5 kilograms of medicinal herbs per person by the end of the month. Workers say they feel burdened by these heavy quotas imposed by city authorities.
According to a source in North Hamgyong province recently, the authorities order the collection of medicinal herbs at this time every year. Initially, only hospitals and related organizations were ordered to collect the herbs, but some time ago the authorities began ordering everyone to collect them.
Workers in the city are required to collect more than 18 kinds of medicinal herbs, including licorice, milk vetch, schisandra chinensis and lycium. However, the city has specifically requested milk vetch, schisandra chinensis, and lycium, which are in high demand in Chinese markets.
“Since the city assigns workers to collect herbs to sell for foreign exchange to run factories and enterprises, it prefers herbs that Chinese traders demand because they sell well in Chinese markets,” the source said.
While assigning the task to factory and enterprise workers, the city also gave them time to collect the herbs in the mountains. However, they were not given enough time to collect enough herbs to fulfill their quota, which made the workers very unhappy.
“To gather herbs, you have to go deep into the mountains, and it’s not easy work unless you’re a professional herb gatherer. Since they don’t have a knack for it, people use the time to buy herbs in the market for delivery to the authorities,” the source said. “Because of this, they complain that ‘in the end, you have to solve everything with money.’
“In North Korea, the price of a kilogram of milkweed is about the same as a kilogram of rice,” he continued. “Even if you work all day in the market, you still don’t earn enough to buy a kilogram of rice, so people inevitably feel a great burden from the medical herb order.”
Order contradicts regime’s ostensible efforts to eliminate ‘non-tax burdens’
When a worker at the Hoeryong Paper Mill was ordered to deliver 3 kilograms of herbs late last month, he openly expressed his dissatisfaction, saying that it was “nonsense to give us only five days to complete such a huge task” and that the authorities were essentially telling them to buy herbs from the market.
In particular, he strongly protested that “the Workers’ Party has instructed officials not to impose economic burdens on the public and that the herb collection order violates party policy.”
In fact, even North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for the elimination of so-called non-tax burdens, but as such tasks continue to be imposed on the public under various pretexts, distrust of the party and state is growing, the source said.
“People complain that the Central Committee is burying its head in the sand and that ‘putting the people first’ and ‘putting our state first’ are slogans that only officials need to cry over,” he continued. “Some people are even issuing threats – bordering on protests – to administrative officials in factories and enterprises, telling them, ‘If we don’t show up for work, consider it as if we went out to gather herbs.’”
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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November 20, 2024 at 12:30PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)