North Korean authorities in Hoeryong, a city in North Hamgyong province, launched a grueling railway maintenance drive in August 2026. Officials mobilized factory and enterprise workers to strip out and relay the gravel bed beneath a stretch of rail line. Each worker also had to individually supply new gravel, a source said, and the demands have fueled resentment among laborers.
A Daily NK source in North Hamgyong province said on Monday that Hoeryong’s people’s committee ordered the mobilization on Aug. 26. The committee told workers that “railways are the arteries of the country” and instructed them to remove all of the gravel packed between the railway ties, clear away the debris underneath and relay it.
The city people’s committee assigned each factory and enterprise a specific section of track to maintain, and separately ordered every mobilized worker to prepare about one cubic meter, or roughly 1.5 tons, of new gravel, the source said.
Railway maintenance workload far exceeds past drives
Past railway maintenance mobilizations in Hoeryong were far less demanding, according to the source. Workers previously just carried shovels and buckets to clear away debris along the tracks. This time, laborers had to remove all of the gravel already in place, clean it and put it back. They were also required to add an entirely new supply of gravel, sharply increasing both the workload and the physical strain involved.
The city people’s committee also said the maintenance results could factor into how factories and enterprises are evaluated. That prompted unit leaders to visit work sites repeatedly to check on progress and avoid criticism from above, the source said.
Factory and enterprise officials reportedly used the directive as an opportunity to pressure workers further. They told laborers that past railway maintenance had been handled carelessly and that the mobilization was a chance to correct complacent attitudes. Many workers say the mobilization has more to do with squeezing labor from them than with actually maintaining the railway. The pressure campaign, they say, has fueled growing frustration among laborers on the crews.
“Workers sarcastically asked whether the trains were supposed to run through the sky while all of the gravel was removed,” the source said. Laborers have complained they are being hounded like vermin under the pretext of railway maintenance, the source added.
Workers were also left to fend for themselves when it came to tools. Each factory and enterprise had to supply its own shovels, pickaxes and carts for hauling gravel. Some units paid to rent carts capable of carrying more than a metric ton of material. Those rental costs were split among the workers who paid to be excused from the physical labor, the source said.
The burden of the actual labor fell disproportionately on workers who could not afford to pay their way out of the mobilization. Those laborers spent days hauling and laying gravel under the scorching sun, on top of their separate quota to procure gravel of their own. Many reported significant fatigue and mounting complaints, according to the source.
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September 9, 2026 at 11:30PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)