THE GREAT CHRISTMAS BAKE OFF: NORTH KOREA DEMANDS PEOPLE PAY FOR CANDIES FOR KIM JONG-UN’S BIRTHDAY
At a time when the country is struggling with one of the worst food crises in history, local governments in North Korea are forcing starving citizens to pay for raw confectionery ingredients after the central government ordered that each province must produce and supply confections as gifts for children from Kim Jong-un for his birthday on January 8th.
The tradition of distributing candies to children on or around the North Korean leaders’ birthdays dates back to the era of the nation’s founder, Kim Il-sung. In the past, candies were only supplied to expectant mothers and students in daycare and elementary schools, but the Kim Jong-un administration has expanded candy distribution to every North Korean child since 2019.
An additional tax of 5,000 won is imposed on each household while each family is ordered to donate an egg as part of the nationwide baking project. As a result, the already scarce supply of flour and sugar has doubled in price, for instance “the price of one kilogram of flour has jumped from 12,000 won ($2.40 USD) to 30,000 won ($6 USD). The price of sugar has also jumped from 13,000 won to 25,000 won”.
Due to the lack of food imports following the suspension of trade with China at the beginning of the pandemic, Radio Free Asia reported that the nation is struggling to scrape together enough sugar and the market is running out of eggs altogether.
Source:
Radio Free Asia
NORTH KOREAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SELLING COPIES OF SQUID GAME TO STUDENTS
A man who smuggled copies of the global TV hit “Squid Game” from China into North Korea was sentenced to death by firing squad after he sold a USB flash drive containing the series to a high school student. The student who bought the drive received a life sentence and six other students caught watching the show were sentenced to five years of hard labor, while teachers and school administrators were fired and banished to work in remote mines as a result. However, a source told Radio Free Asia that one of the students “with rich parents was able to avoid punishment because they bribed the authorities with $3,000 USD”.
A resident from a northern city of Pyongyang commented that “[Squid Game] is similar to the lives of Pyongyang officials who fight in the foreign currency market as if it is a fight for life and death... the show’s plot kind of parallels their own reality, where they know they could be executed at any time if the government decides to make an example out of them for making too much money, but they all continue to make as much money as possible”. The source further said that “[Squid Game] not only resonates with the rich people, but also with Pyongyang’s youth, because they are drawn to the unusually violent scenes. Also, one of the characters is a North Korean escapee and they can relate to her”.
It is reported that the censors in 109 Sangmu, a government strike force specializing in catching illegal video watchers (officially known as the Surveillance Bureau Group 109), had received a tipoff in relation to the sharing of the drive among students.
The arrest of the seven students sets precedent in North Korea by executing its newly passed law on the “Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture” in cases involving minors, which carries a maximum penalty of death for watching, keeping, or distributing media from capitalist countries, particularly from South Korea and the United States.
As the authorities are keen to learn about how the smuggled drives reached the North despite border closures during the pandemic, “[residents] are engulfed by anxiety, as the seven will be mercilessly interrogated until the authorities [have an answer, meaning that] the bloody winds of investigation and punishment will soon blow”.
Following this incident, the authorities began to scour markets for memory storage devices and video CDs containing foreign media, and “residents are all trembling in fear because they will be mercilessly punished for buying or selling memory storage devices, no matter how small”.
THE ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS SKI TRIP: NORTH KOREAN SKI RESORTS OPEN AMIDST COVID LOCKDOWN
North Korea’s two largest ski resorts, Yangdok and Masikryong resorts, have now been covered in artificial snow as they prepare for domestic visitors this winter, including wealthy individuals with internal travel permits, as well as organized groups from exemplary factories and schools as part of the reward structure deeply rooted in the nation’s socialist system.
It is reported that both resorts use snow blowers made by Areco, a Swedish company, which have been imported in violation of international sanctions.
The Masikryong resort opened in 2013 as one of the first major projects “for the people” under the Kim Jong-un administration, while the Yangdok resort was only opened to the public since January 2020.
Although the North Korean Cabinet Premier, Kim Tok-hun, announced plans to build another ski resort at Mount Kumgang near its border with South Korea last December, satellite imagery shows no sign of any construction work yet.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s military ski team has received an upgrade in ski facilities and lodgings at their slopes near Mount Paektu, where the unit has resumed its annual training in recent weeks.
Source:
NK News
A GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK: FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW HANDED CHINA’S MOST WANTED TO THE AUTHORITIES
North Korean defector, Zhu Xianjian, was caught by the Chinese authorities 41 days after his escape from prison.
Zhu was discovered hiding in the basement of a building on Songhua Lake near Jilin City. Prior to his arrest, local villagers reported that a few items were stolen from their homes. One of the villagers who had her clothes, razors and other items stolen, had taken a cigarette bud left behind by the suspected thief to the police, which was later confirmed to belong to Zhu after conducting a DNA comparison examination.
The police discovered footprints in the snow near where Zhu was arrested and traces of human habitation inside a culvert, where they also found bedding, cutlery and cigarettes, among other things. The authorities speculate that Zhu had been living inside the culvert, which was damp and cold, for four days.
A video published by Chinese media outlets show Zhu being carried from a small boat while screaming in pain after being shot in the leg prior to his capture.
It is noteworthy that the value of the reward for catching Zhu had increased three times from its initial offer of 150,000 RMB (approximately $23,000) to 700,000 RMB (approximately $110,000) in just one month. This exceptionally handsome offer had attracted locals to actively participate in the search for Zhu, which even resulted in a Jilin resident who resembled Zhu to be arrested five times in three days.
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