◆ The Heatwave Exposes the Gap Among North Koreans
The reason North Koreans leave their homes on midsummer nights for pits or storage sheds is that they want to secure a space to escape the tropical night without spending any money. If they want a more comfortable night than that, they have to pay for it.
The reporting partner said, "Mosquito nets are very popular this summer. Many people set up mosquito nets by the riverside and sleep outdoors. There are even people who make money by professionally renting out portable (folding) beds and the like. Prices, combining a bed and a mosquito net, range from 6,000 won a night up to as much as 35,000 won for the pricier options."
According to ASIAPRESS research, the monthly wage of a state enterprise worker is around 35,000 to 50,000 won. This means some people are paying more than half a month's wages just to cool off for a single night. The riverside, once open to everyone, has effectively become a space reserved for those with money.
The reporting partner also said, "(Chinese-made) air conditioners have come in through Hyesan in large quantities, but they all get sent off to Pyongyang and the big cities, and here (in the northern region) only cadres and the wealthy get to use them." In the end, it is ordinary people with neither money nor power who bear the full brunt of the extreme heat.
While some lose their lives sleeping in pits, others cool off by renting mosquito nets and portable beds by the riverside, and still others — the wealthy and privileged — are able to use cooling equipment even amid the power shortage. The heatwave is laying bare a blatant "class gap."
Those who are poor are left defenseless against the dangers of the heatwave, and sometimes lose their lives as a result. This is the summer reality for ordinary North Koreans.
※ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.
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■North Korea is Sweltering! Pyongyang Hits 36°C, Mother and Daughter Sleeping Outdoors in Hamhung Hit and Killed by Car, Outdoor Sleeping Banned
