North Korean orphans ‘volunteer’ for grueling mine and farm work
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Mon, 29 Jan 2024 16:44:08 -0500
North Korean state media reported that hundreds of young people across the nation have “volunteered” for arduous work in coal mines and on farms out of a sense of patriotic duty, but sources told Radio Free Asia that most of them are orphans aging out of the system, and it’s usually because they have nowhere else to go.
On Jan. 17, the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported on a ceremony in the eastern province of South Hamgyong that congratulated the young volunteers, who appear to be in their late teens, with several local dignitaries offering speeches thanking them for their service.
“More than 80 young people in South Hamgyong Province of the DPRK volunteered to work at revolutionary battle sites and major worksites for socialist construction,” it said. “Officials and young people in the province presented bouquets to the volunteers leaving for new revolutionary posts and warmly saw them off.”
But in reality, the youths who will spend the next few years doing backbreaking work as miners, lumberjacks, salt workers or livestock hands are actually filling a quota which the central government assigned to the province, a teacher from the northern province of Ryanggang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“The number of youth who were to enter the volunteer work project was designated in advance: 100 people in provinces with a large youth population, and 80 people in provinces with a small youth population,” he said.
“The Ryanggang Youth League also moved up the graduation ceremony for its orphans secondary schools from March to mid-January to meet the quota [by making more orphans eligible].”
According to the resident, 70 out of the 80 Ryanggang volunteers were orphans.
“Among those who volunteered, 47 were from the orphans’ schools, 23 were orphans who were adopted by ordinary families,” he said.
Seven of the remaining 10 volunteers were actual volunteers, while the other three are officers from the youth league, the resident said.
Keeping them occupied
The number of volunteers reported in the media gives the people a good indication of how many orphans there are in the country, another Ryanggang resident told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“If we figure out the number of youths who have entered difficult sectors as volunteers every year, we know how many orphans there are in our country each year, because more than 90% of the volunteers are orphans,” he said.
After graduating from high school, most orphans don’t have great job prospects. And while it wasn’t clear that they were forced to take these difficult jobs, they may simply not have anywhere else to go.
So the goal of the government is to make sure they don’t cause any problems, he said.
“The government advertises that it warmly cares for and raises orphans, but orphans cannot serve in the military or go to college,” the second resident said.
“The authorities assume that they may harbor resentment towards the government system because they grew up without parents,” he said. “Also, their family background is unclear.”
In North Korea, family background is of the utmost importance, and those who are allowed to attain the highest positions in the country have descended from ancestors who demonstrated their loyalty to the North Korean leadership for several generations. Those with bad family backgrounds can never get ahead.
In other words, people are unfairly judged based on the actions of their grandparents or great-grandparents.
While some are lucky enough to benefit from a good family background, orphans have no background, so they are automatically classified with those who have bad backgrounds.
“If you are an orphan, you cannot serve in the military or study at a university. Regardless of whether you graduated from a secondary school or even if you were adopted by an ordinary family and graduated from a high school,” the second resident said.
In years past, the orphans were all assigned to work together in a single group, he said, but this year they are receiving individual assignments.
“If orphans are gathered as a group in one place, there is a risk that they could betray the country as a group, so they are individually separated.”
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
North Korean state media reported that hundreds of young people across the nation have “volunteered” for arduous work in coal mines and on farms out of a sense of patriotic duty, but sources told Radio Free Asia that most of them are orphans aging out of the system, and it’s usually because they have nowhere else to go.
On Jan. 17, the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported on a ceremony in the eastern province of South Hamgyong that congratulated the young volunteers, who appear to be in their late teens, with several local dignitaries offering speeches thanking them for their service.
“More than 80 young people in South Hamgyong Province of the DPRK volunteered to work at revolutionary battle sites and major worksites for socialist construction,” it said. “Officials and young people in the province presented bouquets to the volunteers leaving for new revolutionary posts and warmly saw them off.”
But in reality, the youths who will spend the next few years doing backbreaking work as miners, lumberjacks, salt workers or livestock hands are actually filling a quota which the central government assigned to the province, a teacher from the northern province of Ryanggang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“The number of youth who were to enter the volunteer work project was designated in advance: 100 people in provinces with a large youth population, and 80 people in provinces with a small youth population,” he said.
“The Ryanggang Youth League also moved up the graduation ceremony for its orphans secondary schools from March to mid-January to meet the quota [by making more orphans eligible].”
According to the resident, 70 out of the 80 Ryanggang volunteers were orphans.
“Among those who volunteered, 47 were from the orphans’ schools, 23 were orphans who were adopted by ordinary families,” he said.
Seven of the remaining 10 volunteers were actual volunteers, while the other three are officers from the youth league, the resident said.
Keeping them occupied
The number of volunteers reported in the media gives the people a good indication of how many orphans there are in the country, another Ryanggang resident told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“If we figure out the number of youths who have entered difficult sectors as volunteers every year, we know how many orphans there are in our country each year, because more than 90% of the volunteers are orphans,” he said.
After graduating from high school, most orphans don’t have great job prospects. And while it wasn’t clear that they were forced to take these difficult jobs, they may simply not have anywhere else to go.
So the goal of the government is to make sure they don’t cause any problems, he said.
“The government advertises that it warmly cares for and raises orphans, but orphans cannot serve in the military or go to college,” the second resident said.
“The authorities assume that they may harbor resentment towards the government system because they grew up without parents,” he said. “Also, their family background is unclear.”
In North Korea, family background is of the utmost importance, and those who are allowed to attain the highest positions in the country have descended from ancestors who demonstrated their loyalty to the North Korean leadership for several generations. Those with bad family backgrounds can never get ahead.
In other words, people are unfairly judged based on the actions of their grandparents or great-grandparents.
While some are lucky enough to benefit from a good family background, orphans have no background, so they are automatically classified with those who have bad backgrounds.
“If you are an orphan, you cannot serve in the military or study at a university. Regardless of whether you graduated from a secondary school or even if you were adopted by an ordinary family and graduated from a high school,” the second resident said.
In years past, the orphans were all assigned to work together in a single group, he said, but this year they are receiving individual assignments.
“If orphans are gathered as a group in one place, there is a risk that they could betray the country as a group, so they are individually separated.”
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
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