From the Daily NK - North Korea’s population mobilized for manure collection:
The North Korean authorities have launched a new “battle” to support the aims of Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s Address, and are moving to restrict residents from engaging in private business.
The country held a massive rally on January 4 at Kim Il Sung Square to garner support for the aims set out in the address. Another rally was held outside Pyongyang where Kim Jong Un pledged to continue North Korea’s economic development.
“The government decided that the first ‘battle’ of the New Year in support of Kim Jong Un’s address was to be held from January 4-10,” said a Ryanggang Province-based source on Sunday. “Orders for the battle were handed down on January 5 and mobilization began thereafter.”
The new battle focused on the annual drive to collect manure for biological fertilizer from farms in the country’s agricultural regions, while city residents focused on improving their collection rates. The “manure collection” in rural areas also involved organizations and people from the cities....
“The government encouraged all people to actively engage in the new battle. All employees of factories, enterprises, farms, and even housewives affiliated with the Korean Women’s Alliance were mobilized to take part in manure collection,” said a source in North Hamgyong Province, adding that merchants on the streets were also required to participate in the battle and were not permitted to trade for the duration.
How can city residents improve their manure collection rates? There aren't many farm animals in Pyongyang, after all. Indeed there aren't many farm animals in North Korea as a whole. But there are plenty of people. The distasteful truth - not acknowledged here - is that in North Korea manure is largely human manure. Which is to say, human excrement.
The case of the soldier who escaped in November 2017 by running across the demilitarised zone is instructive here. Badly wounded, he was rushed to hospital, where his intestines were found to be full of parasitic worms. The surgeon responsible said that he'd never seen anything like it before outside of textbooks. Other doctors have also described removing various types of worms and parasites from North Korean defectors. This, it's generally believed, is a direct result of using human excrement as fertiliser.
So this latest mass mobilisation is all about shit.
Ain't that the truth.
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