FILE PHOTO: A street child known as a “flower sparrow” collecting scrap materials in the Hyesan area of Ryanggang province, North Korea. (Daily NK)
Homeless children are reappearing on North Korean streets as soaring food prices drive desperate families deeper into poverty.
Children begging and stealing food around markets and train stations have become increasingly common, with people saying there are “definitely more than before.”
A Daily NK source said recently that authorities had reduced street children through crackdowns and support programs just one or two years ago. But they’ve returned to the streets in large numbers recently, prompting some to call it “evidence that people are struggling to survive.”
The children survive by stealing from passersby or eating food scraps around markets and train stations.
The resurgence stems from worsening food shortages as market prices have surged in recent months. Families living day-to-day can no longer cope, the source said. In rural areas, growing numbers of households survive on just a few potatoes daily because they can’t afford rice or corn.
“When guardians die or can’t make a living, children have no choice but to go to the streets,” the source said. “Some start begging around markets or train stations because they can’t handle hunger while their parents travel far to find food.”
Shelters inadequate, children flee
Authorities send these children to protection facilities in cities and counties, but the shelters lack adequate food and clothing. Many children repeatedly run away.
“The facilities only enforce rules and don’t provide proper food,” the source said. “It’s better for children to wander around and find food where they can, so they escape.”
Government responses to the problem are largely ineffective. Central authorities order crackdowns, but local officials lack resources to implement them and only go through the motions.
Addressing the root cause — food shortages — appears unlikely. Grain stores don’t have abundant supplies, and social programs that provide free food to poor residents barely exist.
“People say the government should guarantee stable economic activities and give land to farm workers so they can farm independently, but that’s hard to achieve,” the source said. “Because the government only controls and cracks down, residents face survival threats and children are forced back onto the streets.”
Daily NK reported Sept. 1 that hunger cases have emerged throughout North Korea in recent months due to soaring food prices.
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