North Korea is launching an app-based system for rice distribution, with grain vouchers added to an electronic payment app on a trial basis in certain parts of the country.
A recent update for an electronic payment app used on North Korean smartphones added functions for buying more grain vouchers, verifying QR codes and checking usage history, Daily NK has confirmed.
“This represents an attempt to digitize the grain supply from the Central Committee all the way down to individual users. The authorities want to prevent the illicit accumulation of wealth, grain shrinkage and statistical delays associated with paper vouchers — and also to control the grain supply in real time,” said a source inside North Korea recently.
The fact that grain vouchers are now being issued through smartphones means that the paper vouchers North Koreans have long submitted to government-run grain stores are being replaced with digital vouchers.
Under the paper voucher regime, the stock at individual stores was often not updated on time, and mid-level managers were known to embezzle grain for themselves. These are some of the issues the regime apparently hopes to resolve by digitizing grain sales.
North Korean authorities intend to bring the storage and management of grain under the total control of government-run grain stores before the end of the Eighth Party Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea and to adopt a “smart” digital system that will make it possible to instantly monitor all stages of grain supply and distribution during the Ninth Party Congress, which will begin next year, the source explained.
System limited to employed workers with phones
According to the source, the digital grain vouchers are available to workers with a good record of attendance, a mobile phone SIM card under their own name, and a Chonsong card linked to a bank account. The service is not currently available to the unemployed, homemakers or people working at the country’s informal marketplaces.
But since the service is still in the trial phase, the digital vouchers can only be exchanged for grain in some major cities including Pyongyang, Nampo, Hamhung and Wonsan. In certain areas, North Koreans are able to pick up grain rations at state-run stores by presenting a grain voucher on their smartphones.
While the grain vouchers are issued by the government, they can apparently also be traded between individuals.
“You can check on the vouchers that are regularly issued by the state on your mobile phone, including the vouchers for this month, the next month and the previous month. You can also use the balance in your digital wallet to buy more vouchers,” the source said.
This description sheds light on a hybrid system in which vouchers are issued by the state and then bought by individuals.
“If you register the other party’s address, you can send them grain vouchers or receive vouchers from them. But there are limits on how many vouchers you can send in a single transaction and on how many transactions you can make,” the source added.
Grain vouchers come in three formats: QR codes, barcodes and serial numbers.
“QR codes and barcodes can be used in stores, and serial numbers can be read aloud when the network is unreliable,” the source explained.
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