It has been reported that workers at factories and enterprises in Hoeryeong, North Hamgyong Province, are complaining about the herbal medicine assignment that was handed out again this fall. It is said that workers are feeling a great burden as the amount of herbal medicine assigned to each individual is considerable.
According to Daily NK’s North Hamgyong Province source, Hoeryeong City ordered workers at factories and enterprises in the city at the end of last month to donate 3 to 5 kg of medicinal herbs per person by the end of the month.
The herbal medicine collection project is a project that takes place around this time every year, and the source explains that originally, the herb task was given only to hospitals, but at some point it began to be given to all residents.
It is said that there are more than 18 types of medicinal herbs that workers at factories and enterprises in Hoeryeong City must collect, including licorice, astragalus, Schisandra chinensis, and wolfberry. However, among them, the city is specifically requesting astragalus, Schisandra chinensis, and Goji berry, which are widely traded in the Chinese market.
Regarding this, the source said, “The city is giving herbal medicine assignments in the name of selling medicinal herbs to earn foreign currency and run factories and businesses, so they are preferring medicinal herbs that sell well in the Chinese market and are in high demand by Chinese traders.” He said.
It is known that the city gave factory and enterprise workers time to pick medicinal herbs in the mountains when issuing this herbal medicine task. However, workers are said to be very dissatisfied because they are not given enough time to complete the assignments.
The source said, “To dig up medicinal herbs, you have to go deep into the mountains, so it is actually not easy to dig up medicinal herbs unless you are a professional herbalist. “There is no way to get rid of the dragon, so people are buying herbs at the market and offering them in exchange for herbal medicine time,” he said. “Because of this, voices are coming out among people lamenting that ‘everything has to be solved with money in the end.’”
Meanwhile, the source said, “Here (in North Korea), 1kg of astragalus is equivalent to the price of 1kg of rice,” and “Even if you make money at the market all day, it is difficult to earn enough to buy 1kg of rice, so the herbal medicine task may not be a big burden for the workers.” “There is none,” he added.
Meanwhile, at the end of last month, when a worker at the Hoeryeong Paper Mill was ordered to provide 3 kg of medicinal herbs, he said, “It makes no sense to give so many tasks in a month and only give 5 days of medicinal herbs. He is said to have expressed his dissatisfaction blatantly, saying, “Isn’t that what you are saying is to buy it at the market and give it to them?”
In particular, he is said to have strongly protested, saying, “The party is telling residents not to place financial burdens on residents, but this is an act that goes against party policy.”
In fact, even Chairman Kim Jong-un of the State Affairs Commission has emphasized the eradication of external tax burdens, but sources say that local residents are still subject to external tax burdens under various pretexts, deepening distrust in the party and the state.
A source said, “People are jeering, saying, ‘The party center closes its eyes and frowns,’ and ‘People-first and our-nation-first are slogans that only executives need to shout.’” “Some people are telling administrative executives at factories and enterprises, ‘If I don’t come out,’” he said. “(If you don’t go to work), they are making threats that are close to protests, saying, ‘Think of it as going out to pick herbs.’”
Source: www.dailynk.com
