North Cracks Down on Its Troubled Youth

It has been confirmed that North Korean authorities have launched a campaign against young North Koreans who steal crops from farms and who frequently engage in drinking.

Dong-A Ilbo obtained a document from a “youth institution,” a state organization of North Korea, which criticized that “there are still young people who are immature to the extent where they steal the precious crops of farmers.” The document was released last September.

The North Korean authorities stressed “theft of the crops is tantamount to dishonoring the glorious achievements of our beloved leader (Kim Jong Il) who enabled an unprecedented harvest.”

Furthermore, lecture material from the Commission for North Hamkyung Province, which was launched last August, urged strengthening of security regarding crops. The material presented cases including one farmer who stole an astounding 200kg of crops from neighboring farms.”

Meanwhile, the youth institution also said that “The culture of young people drinking and losing control still remains,” and quoted Kim Jong Il as saying, “When the culture of drinking is prevalent, it is hard to establish a revolutionary culture, and society become susceptible to non-socialist ideologies.”

Myoung-Gun Lee gun43@donga.com