Every year, the North Korean government mobilizes the populace to take part in the potato harvest. In return for their hard work, laborers receive a few kilograms of potatoes. Everyone is supposed to partake in this harvest, but powerful agencies are finding ways of getting themselves exempted from the labor.

 

The “fees” for exemption are quite high, ranging from 150,000 to 180,000 won. While the use of money or power to avoid farm labor mobilization is certainly not a new phenomenon in the North, exemption on this scale, featuring whole agencies, remains unusual.

 

This information was obtained from a source inside North Korea. Meanwhile, the Rodong Sinmun reported that the potato harvest had begun and, contrary to the source’s claim, “Cabinet and Central Party workers are actively volunteering.”