North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accompanied by his daughter Kim Ju-ae, led a field tour of an “important military vehicle production plant,” according to Rodong Sinmun on Jan. 5. The newspaper also unveiled a launch pad vehicle (TEL) carrying a cylindrical tube for the Hwasong-18, a new solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). (Rodong Sinmun-News1)
North Korea’s II Corps has ordered nutritious food for soldiers ahead of winter exercises beginning Dec. 1, but the directive has sparked complaints from officers’ families tasked with providing the meals.
“Units with the II Corps received orders from above to provide soldiers with foods high in nutritional value to keep them in good shape before the upcoming exercises. In line with those orders, officers are being organized into teams to handle each day’s food preparations,” a source in North Hwanghae province told Daily NK recently.
The North Korean military holds winter exercises each year from Dec. 1 until late March or early April. These exercises are designed to help soldiers adapt to cold-weather combat conditions, boost their fighting skills and ability to carry out operations, and reinforce ideological and military discipline.
With months of intense drills scheduled during a time of bitter cold, the II Corps has apparently ordered that soldiers be given nutritious meals as part of a deliberate effort to boost both their morale and their strength before the winter exercises begin.
Officers’ wives bear burden of military provisioning failures
But these orders have led to what amounts to a “total mobilization order” for officers’ families. Given the wretched state of military provisions, preparing nutritious food is a tall order indeed. In the end, officers’ families are forced to take matters into their own hands.
“In principle, units are supposed to provide soldiers with good-quality meals by raising cattle and cultivating their own crops. But when everything is in short supply, it’s essentially impossible for units to provide nutritious food through their own resources,” the source said.
“When these orders are given, it’s officers’ family members—and their wives in particular—who have to pick up the slack. Unlike ordinary North Koreans, officers’ families do receive some rations in the form of food and daily necessities. But with meager wages, these families have little in the way of cash. In the end, the officers’ wives have to resort to bartering or selling off household goods,” the source added.
For example, one unit with II Corps in Pyongsan county plans to give soldiers a fancy meal featuring meat once a week. But that plan forces the wives of unit officers to reach into their own pocketbooks, which is apparently leading to considerable domestic strife.
Units with the X Corps, stationed in Ryanggang province, have received similar orders, unleashing a flood of griping from officers’ wives.
“Preparing enough food for a hundred soldiers is basically impossible for families with little enough to spare, as can be inferred from the grim expressions on the faces of the officers’ wives. People are voicing sympathy for officers’ wives, who are doomed to growing crops, raising livestock and now feeding the army just because of their choice of husbands,” said a source in Ryanggang province.
“The regime is always boasting about the ‘Workers’ Party’s army’ and the ‘Great Leader’s army’ even as it shifts the practical responsibility to officers’ families while doing little to feed or care for the soldiers.”
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