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| ‘150-DAY BATTLE’ DRAWING IRE FROM DPRK RESIDENTS |
| Posted Date : 2009-08-06 (NK Brief No.09-8-6-1) |
The campaign was launched by authorities to overcome North Korea’s economic woes as part of the country’s overall strategy of building a Strong and Prosperous Nation by 2012, but has only managed to bring more difficulties to the lives of the people. This has led to growing discontent among the public.
North Korea has launched similar campaigns in the past. When suffering from domestic or international difficulties, Pyongyang pursued campaigns focused on mobilizing local manpower, increasing short-term domestic production in order to stimulate the economy. However, economic development based on mobilization of domestic labor is no longer reflective of the daily lives of North Koreans, creating conflict between residents and authorities.
Authorities have increased controls over every kind of economic activity in order to create an atmosphere conducive to full citizen participation in the ‘150-day Battle.’ Crack-downs are being carried out on the sale of banned goods in markets and street vendors. That has had a devastating impact on the poverty-stricken urban vendors that live hand-to-mouth.
Travel restrictions and home inspections have also been stepped-up, leading to growing complaints by residents. Recently, inspections by security forces have even grown to include inspections of backpacks worn by residents out in public.
Plain-clothes security officers have also increased the number and intensity of raids on commercial activities taking place under the apartments of residents living in the vicinity of markets. These days, as rumors spread of a 100-day Battle to continue where the 150-day Battle leaves off, citizen complaints about North Korean authorities continue to grow.
The Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee distributed a classified memorandum to all Party two months prior to the April launch of the campaign, with specific targets for each segment of the economy. According to the memorandum, targets set for the campaign included 1) concentrating efforts on turning around economic stagnation in the energy, coal, metal and railroad sectors, 2) complete resolution of all food shortages, and 3) transforming the national economy into a technology-centered economy. More specifically, the targets set for the priority sectors include 1) capacity to create 7,760,000 kW of electricity, 2) producing 35 million tons of coal, 3) railway transport capacity of 73.2 million tons, and 4) harvesting 6 million tons of grain this year, to be followed by 7 million tons in the future.
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