![](\"https:\/\/www.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/201106-07NK_pyeongyang_026-1.jpg\")
<\/a>Reporters for the congress are only permitted to report on \u2018developing Pyongyang.\u2019 Ordinary people in Pyongyang earn a living through informal business. The woman in this photo is selling Chinese made sausages. Taken by Koo Gwang-ho in Moranbong District, June 2011. (ASIA PRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n
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Q: After 36 years, why hold a Worker`s Party congress now?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: \u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve heard about the Worker`s Party congress. The last time the government organized one I was too young to understand what it was, but I heard that there was a congress when our Supreme Leader, Kim Il-sung was alive. I don\u2019t know what the purpose of the congress is. And I\u2019ve no idea what the Party members do in general, or whether they have a specific purpose for this conference.\u201d<\/p>\n Q: How are people reacting to the Worker`s Party congress?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: \u201cThey don\u2019t have any interest. People have been hugely inconvenienced as a result of the Worker`s Party congress and we wonder who it\u2019s all for. If the Worker`s Party congress yields any kind of improvements for us then we welcome it. But we don\u2019t expect to be any better off and it all seems perfunctory. The Worker`s party congress is simply bullshit! We don\u2019t have any interest at all!\u201d<\/p>\n Q: So, despite the authorities putting seemingly great effort into preparation for the congress, you don\u2019t expect anything from it?<\/strong><\/p>\n Q: So, despite the authorities putting seemingly great effort into preparation for the congress, you don\u2019t expect anything from it?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: \u201cExpect anything? I doubt it. I\u2019d like it if they could distribute our rations in the same way they did before. But we know that conditions here are difficult, so these things are hard to ask for. Rather, I\u2019d ask them not to crack down on people trying to survive by doing their own businesses. Everyone here is scrapping a living by means of informal businesses. But they force us to pay bribes while we struggle to make a living. They extort us, telling us, \u201cThis is illegal! This is wrong!\u201d<\/p>\n Streets are covered with slogans supporting Kim Jong-un. Things like, \u201cHooray! General Kim Jong-un, the Sun of Military Led Chosun!\u201d Taken by ASIA PRESS from the Chinese side, looking into Hyesan City, Yanggang Province. May 2014.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Q: Do you mean that the situation has deteriorated since the inauguration of Kim Jong-un?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: \u201cSome people say that the Supreme Leader (Kim Il-sung) considers the people, but the nation has become a mess over the course of the two Kim family successions. They can\u2019t feed us, but won\u2019t let us live how we want to live. If we could do our own thing we could eat cooked white rice and meat soup by ourselves. People are not idiots. They can make a living by themselves, even without state control.\u201d<\/p>\n Q: What are your expectations of the Kim Jong-un regime?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: I hope that they will open up the country, like China. Frankly speaking, if they do, people wouldn\u2019t feel the need to leave their hometowns [North Korean defectors]. I don\u2019t know why they fear reform so much. While drinking, an official, one of my acquaintances, said: \u201cIf we open up like China, we would be overthrown. So I think the top will never open the door.\u201d<\/p>\n Q: Do you mean that they don\u2019t want reform because they fear their regime would be overthrown? Even if opening up will improve the lives of the people?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: Absolutely! Those son-of-bitches [Kim Jong-un and his followers] think that they should survive to the last. That\u2019s why they don\u2019t [initiate reforms].<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The 7th congress of the DPRK Worker\u2019s Party finally ended on May 10. How do the North Korean people perceive the \u201chistor\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2303"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>*\u00a0Editor\u2019s notes on North Korean reporters<\/a>
<\/a>ALL REPORTS >>><\/a> <\/strong>
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DPRK MAP >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"