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North Korea commemorated the U.N.-designated International Day of Older Persons by forcing tired and hungry nursing home residents to dance to show their appreciation for the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, residents told Radio Free Asia.
Though the purpose of the Oct. 1 holiday is to show respect to elders and raise awareness about societal issues related to aging, residents described the events at the nursing homes on Monday and Tuesday as overly political, and said they tired out some of the elderly attendees.
“It was propaganda [forcing them] to thank Marshal Kim Jong Un’s consideration for elderly people in our country, helping them to live happily in their golden years,” a resident of South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang, told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for personal safety.
She said that in prior years the day had been observed by serving meals to war veterans and retired factory workers at nursing homes.
“This year, the authorities served a bowl of corn noodles and snacks,” the resident said. “There were only two small pieces of meat in each bowl.”
Then it was time for dancing, led by the performance troupe of the local Socialist Women’s Union.
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“The authorities set up a loudspeaker in an empty lot of the nursing home and arranged for the elderly people to dance together,” she said. “It was miserable to see them reluctantly moving and dancing. They appeared listless less than 30 minutes in.”
The elderly attendees at a similar event in the northwestern province of North Pyongan were astonishingly skinny, and could barely stay alert, a member of the Socialist Women’s Union in the city of Chongju told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“I saw an old man fall out of his chair due to exhaustion from hunger when the event went past lunch time,” she said. “The event organizer quickly gave him a beverage and told him not to get up and not to leave the event.”
She said that as part of the union’s performance group, she helped lead the attendees in celebratory dances.
“After the event, the Socialist Women’s Union of Korea prepared rice and soup for the elderly,” the North Pyongan resident said. “It was heartbreaking to see so many elderly people complaining about how hungry they were.”
Though both sources described their respective events as miserable, state media coverage of nursing home events told a different story.
“The authorities say that our country’s elderly are enjoying happy lives by the grace of Kim Jong Un, so the Rodong Sinmun newspaper and state television showed images of them dancing in gratitude for the party’s blessings,” the South Pyongan resident said.
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.