North Korean goods exhibition held in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia on June 26, 2024. The sign for ‘Chosun Baekho Trading Company,’ which has been designated as a sanctions target by the EU and South Korea, is visible. (Photo courtesy of Professor Kang Dong-wan, Dong-A University)
North Korean authorities have gathered Pyongyang’s trade officials to pressure them into raising state quotas for the second half of the year. This was no mere demand for results, but intense pressure for trade officials to prove their political loyalty.
“For two days on Aug. 13 and 14, the trade management bureau of Pyongyang’s people’s committee hosted a meeting attended by many officials from city-level trading companies, including company presidents and vice presidents,” a Daily NK source in Pyongyang said recently. “The meeting discussed raising state quota targets for the second half of the year, as well as detailed execution plans.”
“This wasn’t a simple meeting, but one aimed at drilling into every trade official the order to raise quotas in the second half of the year,” he said.
According to the source, the meeting also shared the total results from each trading company in the first half of the year. Some companies achieved 100% of their targets, while others were criticized for completing only 70 to 80%. This was presented as justification for raising targets in the second half. During this process, trade officials were also taken to task for their “ideological attitudes.”
Officials were repeatedly told that “failure to meet quotas was a failure to keep up politically or ideologically.” Trade officials interpreted this as intensive political pressure.
Officials express frustration over unrealistic demands
“Some trade officials had barely satisfied their first-half targets, and with authorities ordering that targets be raised again, officials feel a heavy burden,” the source said. “Many officials complained that this wasn’t realistic.”
Some trade officials at the meeting complained that officials simply raised the targets “when securing and distributing import and export goods was difficult and relations with business partners were less than smooth,” and that they could not meet the quotas “when authorities simply stress ideological matters without offering solutions to what companies realistically need.”
In particular, officials said the central government’s trade controls and frequent crackdowns and inspections were a significant problem, as was the loss of trust with trading partners.
Trading companies had already experienced challenges in achieving their targets in the first half due to these problems, including delayed or cancelled transactions. And with trade officials’ superiors now demanding that they “unconditionally” achieve quotas and equating their second-half results with their political loyalty, trade officials report severe psychological stress.
“The order calls on them to unconditionally achieve their higher targets in the second half, no matter what,” the source said. “Trade officials are suffering even more as they take on only political duties without any realistic help or measures like ensuring supplies or support.”
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