＜Inside N. Korea＞ Confiscated Private "Small Plots" Leased to Institutions and Enterprises as State Revenue Stream — "Hand Over 40% of Your Harvest"

◆ Even the Remaining 60% Controlled by the Grain Bureau — State Monopoly on Food Distribution Tightened

Authorities are not permitting enterprises to freely dispose of even the 60% of the harvest they retain. All of it must be reported to the Grain Bureau, the state body that oversees food management.

"Even for the 60%, enterprises are apparently required to report to the Grain Bureau — specifying which plot produced how much and how it will be used. The point is to prevent individuals from profiting by trading food."

This is consistent with the state food monopoly policy that has been tightened since late 2022. All food distribution is managed by the state, and individuals and enterprises are strictly prohibited from selling or distributing food on their own.

Small plots represent land that North Korean North Koreans cultivated through years of backbreaking labor just to survive. One can only wonder how those North Koreans feel as they watch crops grow in fields that, until not long ago, they called their own.

※ ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.