{"id":2071,"date":"2016-02-02T19:10:02","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T10:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang-2\/2016\/02\/report\/nuclear-test-reverberation\/"},"modified":"2018-08-24T18:21:32","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T09:21:32","slug":"nuclear-test-reverberation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2016\/02\/news\/nuclear-test-reverberation\/","title":{"rendered":"Voice of the ordinary N.Koreans: \u201cNuke test only brings hardship to people,\u201d \u201cNo better life in Kim Jong-un\u2019s era\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asia Press has covered the inside situations and responses of North Koreans after the nuclear test with reporting partners. Responses on the test were all negative. Following is the phone conversation, at night, on January 9 with a reporting partner in the northern part of North Korea.
(Edited by Kang Ji-won\/ISHIMARU Jiro)<\/p>\n

\"Complaints

Complaints from the people are getting bigger as the supply of power and running water are worsening. A woman is going back home with buckets of water from the village pump in the midlands of North Korea on January 2015. (Taken by Mindulle, Asia Press)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Did you feel the shocks of the hydrogen bomb test?
A:<\/strong> There were tremors like an earthquake.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> How did you know it was a nuke test?
A:<\/strong> I saw the evening news. They supplied a couple of hours of electricity in the evening.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Are there any gatherings or speeches regarding the nuke test?
A:<\/strong> If there had been a test, there should have been speeches or informational material, which include common phrases like bragging our people\u2019s greatness.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> What do you think about the sudden nuke test?
A:<\/strong> I am not sure, but it was done for the celebration of Kim Jong-un\u2019s birthday (presumed to be January 8). We haven\u2019t even got a piece of his birthday cake.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> How do the people feel about the hydrogen bomb test?
A:<\/strong> I doubt that many people would have pride about that (the nuke test)! We don\u2019t have enough food to eat! Everyone is making an outcry since they are doing that kind of thing even though we are so hungry!<\/p>\n

\"People

People are forced to clean compost in January every year. Middle aged ladies who gather to clean composts in bitter cold (Taken by Kim Dong-cheol, Asia Press)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> How is the life for ordinary people in North Korea, as the government has done nuke tests twice which cost heavily during the four years of Kim Jong-un\u2019s era.
A:<\/strong> Life here is so gloomy. Nothing changed from the past. The state means nothing to us. We have to survive with our own means. The state does not provide anything.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> It is said that there would be a party\u2019s conference this year. Isn\u2019t there?
A:<\/strong> They say that they would hold the party\u2019s conference at a long interval. The preparation of the event are on the way.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> What did the government give you as a present for Kim Jong-un\u2019s birthday?
A:<\/strong> They gave a bag of presents for children, but nothing for adults. It would have been better for us to receive 1 kg of rice rather than what they had spent for the nuke test. The holidays are for those with money. The poor like us always struggle to make ends meet everyday....<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> What do they say around you?
A:<\/strong> We feel the same. There is no festive mood here!<\/p>\n

*Rimjin-gang\/ASIAPRESS smuggles Chinese carrier mobile phones into North Korea. Using these, our North Korean reporters and reporting partners communicate with us on the latest developments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Rimjingang_banner001\"<\/a>*\u00a0Editor\u2019s notes on North Korean reporters<\/a>
<\/a>ALL REPORTS >>><\/a> <\/strong><\/span>
ARCHIVE(pdf) >><\/a><\/span>
DPRK MAP >><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asia Press has covered the inside situations and responses of North Koreans after the nuclear test with reporting partne\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}