The logging company that functions like a labor camp
Workers from ‘hostile’ caste groups at a North Korean logging company endure wages below subsistence level, with no freedom to leave (Image: iStock/baris canverenler)
When Choi, 57, failed to turn up for work at the Pihyon Logging Company at the end of May, the work unit sent someone over to his place to check on him.
His absence was not unusual. Workers often skip their officially designated workplaces to make money elsewhere. It’s a habit that is officially frowned upon but often tolerated to a point because of low, or even unpaid, wages. Monthly pay was raised slightly last October to the equivalent of around five dollars, but distribution remains inadequate, which makes it hard for workers to afford even basic sustenance.
Choi said he was sick. The work unit secretary visited him almost daily, but sometimes Choi wasn’t there. He’d been away seeing a doctor, Choi would say. However, after missing the entire month of June, Choi could not produce a medical certificate. This posed a problem. Eventually, it was revealed that Choi had been traveling to neighboring counties to trade so that he could buy rice.
He was accused of being absent without permission and forced to stand on the company’s ideological struggle platform. In July, he was sentenced to the county labor camp. His term is believed to be relatively short, from two to six months, but considering the nature of the crime, it was nevertheless harsh.
However, such treatment is common for workers at operations such as the Pihyon Logging Company. That is because it is not a normal workplace and its workers are not treated like normal employees. Rather it appears itself to be more like a labor camp, where rights are not respected.
The company is in Pihyon County, deep in the mountains south of the city of Sinuiju. One of many logging companies in North Korea, this one is small, with around 30 to 50 loggers.
According to our source, who told us of Choi’s case, 80% are the offspring of people with bad political backgrounds.
Dividing up the population
In North Korea’s songbun system, the entire population is divided into three major categories determined by what their parents or grandparents and other relatives were doing at the time of the country’s founding in 1948.
The lucky minority forms a trusted “core” caste. Everyone else is considered “wavering” or “hostile.” These broad castes are further subdivided into around 50 categories.
The regime governs the populace with reference to songbun(성분 ), starkly discriminating between those with good and bad backgrounds.
The best of the good are those whose ancestors participated in the anti-Japanese armed struggles of the 1930s and ‘40s with the founding leader, Kim Il-sung. Their privileges include extra points for university entrance or even admission without exams, as well as early membership in the ruling Korean Workers’ Party. This is crucial because, without it, an ambitious young person cannot rise to positions of power, and personal development is severely restricted.
The wavering group is by far the largest, accounting for an estimated 70% of the population. Their forebears may not have made any special contributions to the regime, but they are able to live ordinary lives, along with their children and relatives.
The hostile group includes people whose relatives served Japan during the 1910-45 colonial period, along with other evildoers such as landlords, capitalists, and the wealthy. Lowest of all are those who assisted or are connected to anyone who assisted South Korean or US forces during the 1950-53 Korean War. People who have expressed dissatisfaction with the regime or the Kim family, those who have committed crimes against the state, and their descendants get shoved down into this caste.
Within this minority, a significant number do not know they’re in the unlucky group until something happens. They often have no idea why they were categorized this way.
Most loggers in Pihyon County are hostiles who were forcibly relocated there from Pyongyang or other regions at some time or another because of their grandfathers. For example, Kim, 53, was sent from his birthplace in the city of Kaesong, near the border with South Korea, because his grandfather had been a landlord.
In another example, Jeon, 42, was forcibly relocated with her family in 2014 without even knowing why. They were loaded into a vehicle by security officials at night and brought there without even being able to gather their belongings. Since then, she has worked as a logger.
Although the workers have committed no crimes themselves, they are constantly forced to pledge that they will “atone for their crimes against the motherland through sweat and hard work.”
Most of the work is manual. Timber is felled with axes, and the logs are transported on rafts. Despite being called “workers,” they endure the grueling conditions of prisoners, and the regime takes no measures regarding job safety, according to the source.
It is no wonder that they might want to do something else. But, the source emphasized, that while other workplaces or factories might handle absenteeism with ideological criticism or struggles, this place is different. Since it is filled with “prisoners without crimes,” those with bad songbun are sent to labor camps for any unauthorized absences.
The source concluded that the Pihyon Logging Company, in essence, is not a logging company but a special labor camp designed to monitor and re-educate people with bad backgrounds.
Zane is a defector from North Korea. Before defecting in 2022, he worked at a state-run North Korean company based in Russia. Prior to his assignment in Russia, he had worked at the external affairs department of a company affiliated with the DPRK's Escort Bureau. He graduated from Pyongyang University of Architecture.
Latest posts by Zane Han (see all)
- Women forced into military service face increasing sexual abuse - September 5, 2024
- The logging company that functions like a labor camp - August 29, 2024
- Residents complain about Pyongyang’s fancy new apartments - August 26, 2024