“Young university students are actively engaged in sociopolitical activities during their winter break,” Rodong Sinmun reported on Jan. 8. The photo shows students from Han Deok-soo University of Light Industry in front of the Pyongyang Thermal Power Plant. (Rodong Sinmun-News1)Many households in North Korea’s Ryanggang province — where winter temperatures plummet to close to 30 degrees Celsius below freezing — lack wind blockers to stop cold drafts. North Koreans consider wind blockers a “luxury” when they have a hard enough time preparing food and fuel for heating and cooking.
“In the past, everyone around this time would put up wind blockers to stop cold drafts entering through cracks in the door, but this year, even those are too expensive, so many families can’t even dream of them,” a Daily NK source in Ryanggang province said recently.
According to the source, in the past, one frequently saw families busily preparing for winter from October. People were so busy making kimchi — the “food for half a year” — securing heating and cooking fuel, and covering their doors and windows with plastic film they purchased to keep out cold drafts that they hardly had time to breathe.
This year, however, many people are struggling even to make kimchi or store winter fuel, and, adding insult to injury, the price of plastic film has climbed to a record high, leading many to give up on wind blockers.
“A square meter of plastic film costs 15,000 North Korean won, and you need at least 7 square meters to seal up your front door, kitchen window and room windows,” the source said. “Because this would cost more than 100,000 won, it’s a heavy burden on people barely surviving day-to-day.”
“If people had 100,000 won to spend on wind blockers, nobody would be starving,” he said. “With the cost of plastic film, which used to cost 3,000 won, climbing fivefold this year due to the Chinese yuan’s exchange rate, people have no choice but to give up on buying wind blockers.”
In fact, in one neighborhood watch unit in Hyesan, only three of 30 families put up wind blockers — and two reused the plastic film they used last year. Another four homes require no separate wind blockers, so ultimately, about two-thirds of the households in the neighborhood watch unit could not seal their doors and windows.
On the outskirts of the city, one can hardly find even a single home using wind blockers. In these circumstances, some households have turned to expediencies such as sealing their doors with old clothing or discarded boxes.
“Households unable to put food on the table can’t even dream of wind blockers,” the source said. “When the cold peaks in December and January, such families bundle up even more and just wait for winter to pass.”
Wealthy don’t have winter worries
Meanwhile, wealthier people are staying nice and warm this winter without needing separate wind blockers. They live in well-insulated homes, having replaced their doors and windows early with imported ones that effectively block cold drafts, rendering separate wind blockers unnecessary.
“The lives of people struggling to get by day-to-day and those with money are worlds apart,” the source said. “People with money don’t have to worry about the cold since they can heat their homes with coal or firewood and replace their doors and windows with good imported ones to keep out drafts, even in winter.”
In North Korea, polarization is clearly emerging in winter preparations, depending on people’s living standards — some must give up buying wind blockers due to hardship, while others do not even need them.