1. The Right to Food
North Korea’s grain crisis has persisted since the 1990s without any noticeable improvement. The crisis was exacerbated by the massive natural disasters in the mid-1990s, resulting in a famine among the North Korean population. The famine began to ease off around the year 2000 thanks to humanitarian assis- tance from South Korea and the international community, as well as more favorable weather conditions. However, North Korea’s annual grain output for the year 2010 still fell short of normal demand by about one million tons. Furthermore, the adverse impact of the currency reform enacted in late 2009 caused the price of grain to shoot up, presenting the North Korean people with another round of food shortages.
The fundamental problem with North Korea’s grain and food supply can be attributed to the structural vulnerability of its ineffective “collective farm system.” In addition, the reduced coal production in the wake of natural disasters and the suspension of energy assistance from China, Russia, and the former Eastern European bloc countries had a very negative impact on North Korean industry in general, and agricultural output in particular.
The North Korean people have always received their grain and all daily necessities from the state through the central ration system. From 1996 on, however, central rations were completely suspended in some areas. The official ration network does not function properly, and many citizens have had to find their own means of survival. To make the situation worse, the government began to enforce tighter controls over its citizens’ spontaneously
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created “marketplaces” in the wake of the 2009 currency reform.
When popular discontent mounted, the government began to partially relax these market controls from early February of 2010.
Even though the grain shortage was dire, the grain donated by various outside sources were not adequately distributed to ordinary North Korean consumers. One North Korean defector testified that local inhabitants received beef rations provided by UN agencies, but after the UN personnel finished photographing the distribution and departed from the scene, the people were forced to return the entire beef distribution to the distribution center (store). Most defectors testified that rice sent as foreign aid never reached ordinary citizens. Most of the rice aid went to mili- tary installations, and some of that rice eventually flowed out to the marketplaces where citizens could purchase some of it.
2. Social Security Rights
North Korea’s Constitution stipulates, “Citizens shall have the right to receive free medical care, and persons who are no longer able to work due to old age, illness, or physical disability, as well as children who do not have caretakers, shall have the right to receive material assistance. This right shall be guaranteed by the medical care system, the continuously expanding medical facilities including hospitals and sanitariums, and the state social insurance and social security systems.” (Art. 72) Based on this provision, the North Korean authorities advertise that in the area of social security systems North Korea is ahead of other advanced countries. However, there is a wide gap between North Korea’s social guarantee policies and realities. Due to the lack of neces- 34
sary funds, its social security system is not functioning properly.
Needless to say, social security benefits for the infirm and the elderly who have lost the ability to work are woefully insufficient, and grain rations, the most basic means of sustenance, are not forthcoming to ordinary citizens, except for those living in certain areas like Pyongyang. For example, the pension system for retirees is perfectly set up legally and institutionally. But under the weight of economic hardship, none of it is implemented.
In fact, a large part of the social security system was aban- doned with the so-called “July 1 Economic Improvement Mea- sures” (July 1, 2002), and the gap between the ideal system and the reality has widened. Although the previous system remains in place on paper, the nature of welfare payments and the oper- ating principles of the system have changed due to the July 1 Measures. In other words, through the July 1 Measures the gov- ernment basically abandoned its role as the supplier of food, shelter, and clothing for the people. Also, despite the various welfare payment systems stipulated in the National Social Insur- ance and National Social Security Laws, the responsibility for the welfare of North Korean citizens has been transferred from the state to individual citizens. In short, the role of “social safety net”
which the national social welfare system aspires to has drastically shrunk.
3. The Right to Work
North Korea’s Constitution stipulates, “Citizens shall have the right to labor. All citizens who are able to work shall choose occupations according to their wishes and talents, and shall be guaranteed secure jobs and working conditions. Citizens shall
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work according to their abilities and shall be paid in accordance with the quantity and quality of their work.” (Art. 70) However, the “right to work” is more akin to an obligation to respond to labor mobilizations.
In fact, work for North Koreans is not a right but a duty.
(Article 2 of the Socialist Labor Law says, “Work is the sacred duty of all citizens.”) Today most North Korean industrial work- ers are in a state of unemployment. Due to the economic prob- lems, the factory operating rate is only 20-30%, and workers have no place to work. Most workers will attempt to set up vending ventures when their factory is not in operation. Even though Chairman Kim Jong-il issued instructions to “Try to elim- inate individual work and let the workers collectively report to work at factories and enterprises,” individual vending efforts per- sist since people have to make a living everyday.
4. The Freedom to Choose One’s Job
In North Korea, individuals choose jobs based not on indi- vidual preferences but on the Party’s manpower supply/demand situation. The job assignments of citizens are implemented according to the central economic plan and allocated according to the demands of individual sectors. Thus individual wishes, talents, and abilities are secondary. The criteria for the Party’s job assignments are based on one’s Party loyalty and personal and family background rather than individual talents or adaptability for the job. Individuals with undesirable family backgrounds are assigned to jobs requiring heavy physical exertion like coal min- ing and collective farming. Individuals falling in this category include people with family members who, for example, violated 36
the “Sole Ideology” system, fled south during the Korean War, joined the South Korean para-military forces during the Korean War in opposition to the North Korean regime, or belonged to the bourgeois class. Children with good family background, such as the children of ranking officials of the Party or government, are given good assignments regardless of their abilities. Transfer to another job after the initial assignment also depends on the decision of the Party based on personal background rather than the individual’s abilities.
The most flagrant violation of the right to choose jobs in North Korea is the case of “group assignment.” This term refers to the assignment of groups of workers, at the direction of the Party, to worksites such as coal mines, factories, or construction sites that require considerable manpower. As the tendency to avoid hard work spread in North Korea in recent years, the North Korean authorities came up with this idea of group assign- ment. Before group-assigning high school graduates and dis- charged soldiers to coal mines and construction sites, the author- ities would send “hand-written letters” from Chairman Kim Jong-il and host “loyalty rallies.” There the authorities would award merit citations and host colorful “send-off” ceremonies.
But North Korean defectors testified that “These events in fact were one-sided decisions forced on people by the government without regard to personal wishes.”
Even “group-assigned” workers are not guaranteed grain rations due to the grain shortage and rampant corruption. For example, hundreds of discharged soldiers were group-assigned to coal and mineral mines in the past. However, many of them escaped from the mines. So in recent years groups have been assigned to workplaces near their home towns as much as possi-
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ble. Another example of corruption in job assignment is the offering of bribes for job assignments and job transfers. An example of “bribe assignment” or “face” assignment (a.k.a. “the buddy system”) is when individuals are assigned to “good” trad- ing agency jobs where they can make some foreign currency income. Some defectors deplored this type of corrupt business dealing by ranking officials. They said there are many who believe that this type of corrupt practice has driven North Korea’s economy deeper into the mire, and this perception is widespread among the people.