North Korean authorities have sharply escalated inspections of jangmadang markets in Hamhung city, seizing domestically produced household goods from vendors and routing them into the state-run commercial network, a source inside the country told Daily NK on Monday.
“Since the beginning of this month, there has been a noticeably stronger push in Hamhung to investigate and take control of the origins and distribution channels of domestically made household goods sold at the jangmadang,” the source in South Hamgyong province said.
Market management officials and security agents have been moving stall to stall, inspecting merchandise and pressing vendors on where their goods came from, the source said. “The fact that enforcement is this strict is about normalizing a system in which people buy household goods through state-run stores,” the source added.
State store takeover
Toothbrushes, toothpaste, facial soap, sanitary pads and export-grade cosmetics are among the items currently targeted, the source said. In the past, only cosmetics and medicines faced significant scrutiny. Now everyday household products are swept up without exception, leaving markets noticeably quiet.
Confiscated goods are handed over to the commercial department of local people’s committees before being transferred to state-run stores, according to the source.
Market management officials and security agents are also pressing vendors intensively to reveal the full sourcing and supply chain behind their goods, the source said. “In the past, crackdowns would often fizzle out over time, but the atmosphere now is clearly different,” the source said. “Security agents are telling traders to find another way to survive, because this is not something that can be overlooked.”
The latest sweep follows an order issued last year directing privately operated businesses using state-owned buildings to be absorbed into the state commercial network. North Korean people have interpreted the new crackdown as part of the same campaign to assert state control over private commercial activity.
“The state’s drive to take over the markets is intensifying,” the source said. “There are already concerns that if private trading channels are also controlled and cut off at a time when workplace rations and wages are not being paid normally, ordinary people will find it even harder to breathe.”
The source added that the crackdowns inconvenience not only traders but also the people who shop at the markets. “Depending on supply, demand and volume, you could sometimes buy things more cheaply there. At a state-run store, you can only buy at the price the state has set. That is the downside,” the source said.
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