North Hamgyong province has ordered local factories and enterprises to adopt an autonomous lunch-hour system to combat prolonged heat waves.
Speaking anonymously, a source in the province told Daily NK on Tuesday that the committee issued an order early this month allowing companies to designate their lunch hours between noon and 3 p.m. freely, provided they maintain eight-hour workdays.
The committee promoted this as “a massive benefit from the party, which was concerned about the lives and health of workers,” urging officials to prevent heat-related casualties, especially among outdoor workers.
Previously, workers returning from lunch at 1 p.m. faced the hottest part of the day. “Workers return to work after finishing lunch without a breather,” the source said. “It’s too hot to work at 1 p.m., but we have no choice. No matter how horrible the situation is, work hours are fixed, so we can’t leave our stations.”
In response, many enterprises have moved their lunch hours to 12:30-2:30 p.m. While North Korea lacks measures like South Korea’s work suspensions during extreme heat, workers appreciate the flexibility.
“Some workers are amused, saying it would be nice to eat lunch and sleep under the shade of a tree before returning to work,” the source added. “They at least welcome the move at a time when they’re learning of deaths from sunstroke here and there.”
The autonomous lunch hour system is permitted for 20 days, from Aug. 5 to 25.
Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.