Citizen mobilization in North Korea doesn’t only mean mobilization in the villages. Labor mobilization for a city beautification or public works means that city residents are also called on by the state to work throughout the year. In particular, residents of large cities, like Pyongyang for example, are frequently mobilized to work for free in and around the urban area.

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A film shot by a reporting partner of ASIAPRESS shows citizens mobilized for paving work in Pyongyang and river maintenance in a nearby city. The video shows local residents collecting small rocks to construct a green house in Pyongsung City. Provisioning construction materials is also a part of labor mobilization.

Some residents, forced to work in the pouring rain, grumble, “Mobilization come rain or snow!”

Related article: [Video Report] Nominal Farm Mobilization: People Feel Squeezed

Rimjingang_banner001* Editor’s notes on North Korean reporters 
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