Dear Comrade

Dear Comrade Leader, Episode 195

Chapter 70. 3S stands for Sex, Sports, and… …

“Cho, comrade general secretary! This is entirely my fault as the secretary of the Nampo City People’s Committee and the local party! If you give me one more chance, I will immediately punish those saboteurs… … .”

“Be quiet. That’s not going to solve it.”

“Oh, yes, yes! City, it has been corrected!”

The mayor of Nampo and the secretary of the regional party, who were accidentally called to the secretary’s office, took an alert posture and even stuttered at the supreme leader’s low call.

It’s worthwhile, why is it that, for ‘small things’ like a strike caused by truck drivers in Nampo-si, a call comes from the Central Party’s general secretary’s office, the center of the republic’s power?

Of course, he admits that the scale of this ‘collective sabotage’ is unprecedented, but he had already completed all preparations for suppression at the Nampo Branch of the Ministry of People’s Security (Police) and was waiting only for his order, the local party secretary.

Just like the sporadic strikes I’ve had so far, I was trying to beat him… … Suddenly, the call of supreme dignity to the secretary of the Nampo City Party Committee to rise from Pyongyang fell.

“First of all, let’s do a little listening. What are the needs of the saboteurs, the current situation, and how large is it?”

As the Politburo members and the general secretary all focused on him, the secretary of the Nampo City Party Committee swallowed his saliva and began to explain.

In fact, from the point of view of South Korea and other capitalist countries (that is, countries that have already suffered from strikes and labor disputes tiringly), this incident was a bit difficult to see as a full-fledged strike, and it was close to substandard resistance.

Like the strikes in Korea in the 70s and 80s, iron pipes, wooden timbers, and Molotov cocktails did not fly, and there were no fierce slogans or red headbands.

The only thing that the instigator of the strike, the truck drivers of the Nampo freight forwarding company, did was not show up at the drop-off point at the appointed time, but drove the trucks with the requirements written in paint in a line, honking their horns, and marching through the city of Nampo.

“wage increase! 3 shift work! Mealtime guaranteed!”

“Even if you stay up all night with your current salary, it’s hard to make a living!”

“The boss never listens to anything, so please listen to our story in the party so that we can support our bloodsuckers!”

Strike, an act by which workers systematically stop work and stop work in order to comply with their (primarily wage-raiser) demands on the employer.

In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, there were workers, but there was no union because there were no employers. called

Then, after the inauguration of General Secretary Kim Jeong-hwan, as the market economy was introduced, private enterprises and employer-employee relationships were created.

Of course, it was not without sporadic strikes before.

The companies that came to North Korea in the early days, including modern ones, were ravaged by cheap wages and a labor force that did not raise complaints (no, they could not), and of course, the wages they paid to North Korean workers were about a quarter of that of South Korean workers. .

Of course, in the early days of reform and opening up, even that was a good idea, and there were no complaints because there were so many workers who first received ‘wages’ rather than ‘rations’.

But now, 14 years after reform and opening up, all workers in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, whether white-collar workers in Pyongyang or those in Pyongyang, are starting to think the same as workers in other capitalist countries.

‘The price of rice is rising, but why isn’t the wage rising?’

‘My boss is a guy who drives a foreign-made Mercedes-Benz and reduces the number of side dishes in the cafeteria of our company. You bastard who gets struck by lightning!’

After the North-South compromise, companies ‘buyed’ from South Korea relocated factories to various parts of the republic, and many North Korean native companies were created. Still, the treatment of workers was not much different from that of developing countries.

In other words, social demands for guaranteeing labor rights were slowly becoming a hot topic in North Korea.

From the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the year 2000, strikes to protect their rights began to take place little by little.

Such initial strikes of dozens of people were not reported to the central party because they were handled by shouting or candy lines from the company president and members of the development bureau of the regional party, so it was not heard by Jeong-hwan, but the spark of a strike was always latent.

Among them, only the truck drivers with the strongest labor intensity and the worst working conditions exploded first.

The problem was that, unlike those of the lower classes of society, even in the Kim Jong-il era and now, even though their positions and systems have changed, the executives who do not have any problems with their lives and livelihoods have very different ideas.

“This is a serious matter, Comrade General. sabotage now… … No, there have been reports from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry that the number of reactionaries who took part in the strike has reached as many as several thousand and that they are causing major disruptions in the unloading work and logistics of Nampo Port.”

“… … .”

“Besides, as you may be well aware, the biggest problem is that this strike does not end simply by disrupting logistics and transportation, but also promotes distrust among the citizens of Nampo and Pyongyang toward the republican system and the Party.”

When Jang Seong-taek, chairman of the Foreign Economic Commission, spoke with a serious expression, the executives all shook their heads as if they agreed.

And to them, Jang Seong-taek declared in a tone of nailing in advance.

In the past, he and high-ranking party officials had only one way to respond to this kind of sabotage, but now he understands the style of leader Kim Jeong-hwan well.

“All of my comrades know this well, but don’t even say something like ignoring me. Haven’t you all listened to the teaching of Comrade General Secretary that recklessly using a rod to deal with people’s dissatisfaction will only have the opposite effect?”

‘Yeah, that’s a response anyone can think of, but… … After that it’s a problem. There must be something behind the sudden organization of the strike. After all, is it time for ‘that’ to appear?’

Jeonghwan frowned and tapped the desk with his finger, as if he was facing a troubling problem.

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North Korea’s current industry, to be honest, was now barely able to compete with foreign goods in the domestic market without policy protections such as tariff barriers.

In some industries, for example, the IT industry, the first portal site in North Korea appeared last year thanks to measures such as the rapid spread of the Internet, and there was innovation to start a news service, but the manufacturing industry was not as easy as it sounds.

The population has increased rapidly, and it is still increasing, but it is still not as large as the 50 million population of South Korea, so we have to give up driving economic growth in the domestic market. Ultimately, we have to focus on exports, but factories and OEM production of foreign companies are still a huge part of the North Korean industry. was occupied by

Of course, the main reason for attracting foreign companies to the Foreign Economic Committee led by Jang Seong-taek is cheap wages, but these companies have also shown signs of reducing investment in North Korea little by little in response to rising wages.

In other words, it was a typical middle-income country’s dilemma, where workers’ wages are rising, but the high-tech industry to replace them has not yet reached the track.

But to tell the truth, what Junghwan is really worried about right now is something other than the economy.

“… … So, if it’s not for ignorant beating, how is Manager Jang going to respond to this strike?”

“Actually, before the meeting, we had received a report and were conducting an internal investigation, but since it is true that the act of arrears in wages was true, we had to punish the businessman and pay the overdue wages to the drivers and comrades. but… … ”

“but?”

“It is true that they threatened the system by causing an illegal protest and disrupting the logistics of the Republic. Still, the scale and frequency of demonstrations are gradually increasing throughout the republic, and if you do not respond decisively to them, you can give the impression that such demonstrations are tolerated. … … This protest is not without one or two eyes.”

“For now, send a member of the Foreign Economic Commission to mediate negotiations with the driver and the company. Let’s think about punishing the initiator after that.”

“I followed what you said.”

‘Is the general secretary hesitating? These protests will be appeased at first, and then soon subside if only the instigator throws in a few people in the name of promoting social instability. If you respond flexibly, you get up to do everything, either this guy or that guy. There’s no way you wouldn’t know that… … Maybe there’s something I don’t know?’

Jang Sung-taek once said that in front of Jeong-hwan and bowed his head, but inside he tilted his head.

In the first place, it was strange that we had to open a meeting of the Politburo in the clerk’s office to discuss how to respond to a trivial issue such as a rather large strike… … .

Jang paused for a moment to think that perhaps the instigator of the strike might not be just a few daring truck drivers.

And a few days later at the Politburo meeting, which was temporarily concluded like that, that prediction was exactly right.

He found the instigator of the strike in Room 37 of the Workers’ Party of Korea, which had been in charge of this kind of internal affairs under Jeong Hwan for a long time.

However, it was not Nampo, but Pyongyang, and it was also a university district in Pyongyang.

An organization that ‘enlightened’ and led (in their own words) standing in front of truck drivers who were angry at their overwork and low wages, but did not know how to protest because of their ignorance and fear, is the young, now-adult were college students.

Comrades, what is the name of the first party and leadership organization of our proud Democratic People’s Republic of Korea? ‘The Workers’ Party of Korea’! Isn’t it the workers’ party? But in reality, the treatment of workers in this republic ruled by the Workers’ Party is not much better than that of the Lee Jo era compared to that of other countries! But don’t the capitalists and corporate workers who have benefited from reform and opening up eat and live a thousand and ten thousand times better than us?

Comrade Marx, the founder of socialism and communism, said, ‘Workers of all countries, unite!’ If you leave the oppressed and disrespected workers alone, you’re violating the duty of our student comrades who grew up with the benefits of the state and studied while putting ink into the goal of a good environment!

The party propagates that our republic has economically subdued South Korea thanks to the leadership of Comrade Kim Jeong-hwan, and that the era has arrived, where we can economically subdue South Korea and drink American whiskey while sitting on a leather sofa instead of eating meat soup for a meal. is it wet? Is this really what Comrade General Secretary wants? Or aren’t the party and the Justice’s scoundrels covering the eyes and ears of Comrade General Secretary? This is something that must be protested!

I have been exposed to foreign precedents in many ways, and this is the only way to get what you want by fighting the capitalists through organized resistance! Solidarity, that’s right! Solidarity and struggle is the only way to improve the treatment of workers! Let’s all get together and stand up!

Right now, the labor movement led by young, energetic college students, as well as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea version of the movement, were slowly beginning to emerge in Pyongyang’s university district.