FILE PHOTO: North Korean sellers peddle goods on the fringes of a market in Sunchon, South Pyongan Province, in October 2018. (The Daily NK)
North Korea’s Kangwon province is enforcing a strict ban on market vendors setting prices for products made at local factories, causing disruptions to market activities.
“Ordered by the Central Committee to take independent measures to improve the quality of life in the province, the Kangwon province people’s committee has prohibited the unauthorized sale of these products and the arbitrary adjustment of government prices in an attempt to restore commercial order,” a source in the province told Daily NK recently.
According to the source, the commercial department of the provincial people’s committee notified commerce and market management offices in cities and counties throughout the province on Nov. 9 that all products manufactured by provincial factories are to be incorporated into the state-run distribution system and that they may not be sold for more than prices set by the department.
Notably, the department warned in the notice that the unauthorized sale of products manufactured by provincial factories and the arbitrary adjustment of their prices will be treated as “disruption of the socialist commercial order.”
Accordingly, major markets in the province have taken steps to impose government prices and halt the unauthorized sale of goods from provincial factories.
In the city of Wonsan, market supervisors went around the stalls on Nov. 10—the very next day—to check on the prices of food products and daily necessities such as soap, detergent, shoes and snacks manufactured at provincial factories.
During this process, market supervisors warned vendors that if any products failed to comply with government pricing guidelines, their entire stock would be confiscated.
Economic strain and market disruption
These measures have thrown vendors into a panic.
“We paid more than government prices when we received these items from provincial factories. If we abide by the prices mandated by the commerce department, we will have to sell at a loss,” they complained.
Vendors at one market in Wonsan were enraged to see other sellers’ goods being confiscated because they had sold goods from provincial factories for more than the government price.
One market in Anbyon county was effectively shut down after market vendors staged a walkout in response to the people’s committee’s intolerable restrictions on the sale of goods from provincial factories.
“The restrictions on selling goods from provincial factories were so strict the vendors couldn’t turn a profit. But that left market supervisors in a quandary because they can’t meet their own state-mandated quotas without collecting market fees from the vendors,” the source said.
“Vendors don’t dare to complain openly about measures based on orders from the Central Committee, but they do voice their grievances privately. Some ask how they’re supposed to make a living when the government is obstructing market activities without offering any alternatives. Others question whether the government actually wants to stimulate the provincial economy,” the source added.
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