North Korean residents have expressed dissatisfaction as the government has ordered them to submit their excrement as fertilizer in the summer, with a requirement of 10 kilograms per household. This is the first time they have been asked to submit in the summer, leading to widespread resentment.
According to Radio Free Asia, North Koreans typically collect human feces before planting in the winter, dry it, and then donate it as fertilizer. However, the government recently issued instructions to collect feces in the summer based on leader Kim Jong-un’s “agriculture first” initiative.
Residents of North Korea have complained that this time they are required to dry excrement in their yards during the hot summer, making the smell more likely to spread, attracting flies and maggots.
A resident of Ryanggang Province in North Korea told the radio station that those with financial means can avoid submitting feces by paying a fee. The cost this time is 5,000 North Korean won (about 30 cents). For many North Koreans, this is a considerable amount.
The resident said they received “party instructions” at a residents’ meeting to dry 10 kilograms of excrement per household and deliver it to a nearby fertilizer plant. They can receive a certificate there as proof.
He said, “Residents could not hide their confusion about the party’s order to dry human excrement in the sweltering weather.”
He mentioned that residents expressed dissatisfaction, saying it is the first time they have been ordered to dry human excrement in a summer filled with buzzing flies.
He also noted that families in single residences can scoop up and dry feces in a relatively private setting, but families living in apartments protested, asking how they are supposed to achieve this goal.
Another resident of Ryanggang Province likened this order to an informal tax, as most families prefer to pay 5,000 North Korean won rather than endure the stench by drying their own excrement.
She said, “The party always says we live happily under a tax-free socialist system, but the party’s orders are always taxes, 100 percent. Every time the party gives us instructions, it’s about collecting money.”