◆ Soaring Firewood Prices Leave Residents Struggling
The reporting partner said that as enforcement intensifies, the added costs are being passed on, driving firewood prices sharply higher.
"Right now, a bundle of wood — about 15 pieces of firewood — costs around 5,000 won. People are already struggling just to get by, and now firewood prices are up too. It's hard for everyone. Coal is around 800,000 won per ton."
With the average North Korean worker's wage estimated at around 50,000 won per month, the cost of a single ton of coal — the minimum considered necessary to heat a home through winter — exceeds roughly a full year's wages.
The Kim Jong-un regime has banned tree-cutting in the name of "forest restoration," but with no viable alternative fuel sources available and enforcement agencies engaged in their own corrupt practices, the burden on ordinary residents continues to grow.
Winter in North Korea is a season of survival — so much so that a living arrangement known as "hearth cohabitation" has emerged, in which multiple families move in together to share heating costs when they cannot afford firewood on their own.
In the Hyesan area, where snow can fall even in April, temperatures have remained below freezing as of March.
※ ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.
