Several North Koreans who had resorted to gold mining as a last resort in the face of economic difficulties recently died when mines collapsed, including a mother of a three-year-old and a divorced woman in her 30s.
“People from several counties in South Pyongan province who had begun gold mining out of desperation to buy at least food amid hardship perished in an accident,” a Daily NK source in South Pyongan province said recently.
According to the source, people in several regions of North Korea have recently turned to gold mining to support themselves as earning a living in the marketplace has grown harder.
Men used to make up most of the people heading to the gold mines to make a living, but nowadays the percentage of women has skyrocketed. The absolute number of women in the mines has also grown noticeably.
“Gold mining requires no capital, they feed you, and you can make money from just a day’s work,” the source said. “People who can’t make money working all day at the market now gather at gold mine fields.”
Fatal collapses highlight safety neglect
Women at the gold mines range from young, unmarried women to married women with children and even older women in their 50s and 60s. All of them jumped into gold mining to overcome hardship, the source said.
On Oct. 20, a shaft at a gold mine in Hoechang county collapsed, killing three people. The victims were working late at night to dig up a bit more gold.
The incident sparked even more sadness because one victim was a mother with a three-year-old child. “People worry even more about the future of the three-year-old left behind,” the source said. “Everyone is heartbroken because many children starve even when their mothers are alive, so one can’t imagine what will happen to a child who has lost their mother.”
A woman in her 30s died on Oct. 22 in a tunnel collapse at Taebong Mine—another gold mine—in Hyesan, Ryanggang province.
The woman was living in hardship after divorcing her husband within two years of their marriage. She and some acquaintances began gold mining to make money somehow when disaster struck.
“The woman’s parents are bedridden out of pain and guilt that their child died before them because they couldn’t help her financially,” a source in Ryanggang province said.
“Many people have begun gold mining now due to hardship—they’ve made a dangerous choice that puts their lives at risk,” the source said. “In the mines, they care only about how much gold you dig up. As for safety, all they do is tell you to be careful, so there are many deadly accidents.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: dailynk.com
