It’s planting season in North Korea, and farmers are stealing plastic film from each other so that they can protect their rice seedlings from frost as they worry about meeting their quotas, residents told Radio Free Asia.
The plastic film and other farm supplies such as fertilizer are in short supply as imports from China have not picked up after the shutdown in trade during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In rural areas of our country, where farming material shortages are chronic, the number of thieves of plastic film from farms increases every spring,” a resident from the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
The rice seedlings, often laboriously planted by hand due to a scarcity of machinery, can die if they go just one cold night without the protective cover, he said. During the day, the plastic sheets are removed so that the plants can absorb the warmth and sunshine.
Theft of crops and farming equipment is a common problem in North Korea so the government usually stations guards near fields.
Beefed up security
But because plastic film theft can ruin an entire field, authorities are doubling the number of guards, the source said.
Police were looking for the plastic film thieves, but it is unlikely that they will be caught because it's virtually impossible to tell if a plastic cover has been stolen from somewhere else, he said.
RFA’s sources estimate that the government has only been able to supply about a third of the fuel, fertilizer and plastic film that the farmers need. Some farms have the plastic film and others don’t.
Each farming security guard, most of whom were in their 60s, has been replaced by two younger ones, a resident of nearby South Pyongan province told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
The first source said he noticed the same thing: That an influx of younger guards have replaced fewer, older guards.
“The sudden increase in security personnel on the farms is due to the fact that recently three seedbeds had the plastic film stolen in the middle of the night,” he said.
Even with the enhanced security, some thieves stole the plastic film from a seedbed in the vicinity, the second source, from South Pyongan, said.
“So the guard removed the plastic film from the seedbed of another work unit that night and placed it on the seedbed where its plastic film had been stolen.”
The thieves are not to blame though, he said.
“Ultimately, the reality of this country, … is a product of the self-reliance policy emphasized by the authorities,” he said, referring to the cash-strapped government’s mantra that state enterprises should procure what they need on their own.
Translated by Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.