'Anti-socialist' crackdown disrupts market activity

source: DailyNK

'Anti-socialist' crackdown disrupts market activity

A propaganda mural in Pyongyang encouraging people to 'follow socialism to the end'
Image: Daily NK source



Discontent among North Korean residents is reportedly on the rise as authorities step up their recent crackdown on the so-called "anti-socialist phenomenon" inside the country.


The authorities are focusing on stamping out such "anti-socialist phenomena" labeled as "individualism," "foreign ideological infiltration," and "capitalist profiteering," while residents consider these ideals the very things that have saved them under the country’s poor economic conditions.


"Open complaints are streaming out against the 'anti-socialist' crackdown," a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on April 19. "I’m hearing complaints that the very nature of making a living to eat and survive is now considered 'anti-socialist', since the state no longer provides food rations or sufficient salaries as an alternative."


The source said that in accordance with the crackdown, servicha (taxi and item delivery service vehicles) users are now being prevented from using the services to transport large amounts of items, and police are harassing merchants more over their products.


He explained that the rise in complaints from the population is a result of disruptions in the jangmadang (market economy) after capitalist market activities became a focus of the crackdown.


"It's only a matter of time before riots break out," a separate source in North Hamgyon Province said, describing what he heard from one resident in the area.


"Clamping down while at the same time giving us nothing may only result in riots," another person reportedly told the additional source in response to the crackdown.


"People at the fish market in the city of Kimchaek were unanimous in their complaints," the source continued. "One merchant said, 'One has only themselves to rely upon now to make a living and survive, so ordinary people will be the only victims of this crackdown. It is extremely hard to survive with this on top of the foreign economic blockade (sanctions).'"


But while "anti-socialist'"activity is the simple description of the crackdown, the source suggested that the authorities may be primarily targeting the personal accumulation of wealth by individuals. In other words, merchants and businesspeople may be attractive targets for the authorities to collect bribes from during inspections, which may also be part of a larger scheme by the government in this crackdown.


A source in Ryanggang Province provided further testimony from a local market supporting this suspicion. "Mid-level cadres reported up to the top (Kim Jong Un) that 'the anti-socialist phenomenon is severe' after deciding that people with lots of money were no longer heeding their orders," one person told the Ryanggang-based source, explaining that this was all a plan to gain permission to increase inspections and then line their own pockets.


"I have heard references to the 2009 currency reform and how people are feeling the same kind of dread now, pointing the blame at 'corrupt people' in positions of authority," the source added.


Instead of carrying out the letter of the law through the crackdown, police and others in authority may be using the opportunity to both collect more money in bribes and reduce the power of individuals by slashing their wealth – similar to the official currency reform of 2009.


"What I am hearing is that people can't fathom living under forced ignorance by the government when they already know the reality," the initial North Hamgyong-based source explained.