A women’s union crackdown in the North Korean border city of Hyesan has targeted a home-based tailoring workshop this September, with officials publicly criticizing five women for running an unregistered business and neglecting mandatory political activities.
The Socialist Women’s Union of Korea is a mass organization under the Workers’ Party of Korea that enrolls married women without state jobs and requires them to attend regular study sessions, lectures and labor mobilizations.
“Union officials suddenly descended on a clothing workshop in Yonbong-dong on Sept. 8, and the five women working there were criticized in front of all the neighborhood’s union members,” a source in Ryanggang province told Daily NK on Monday.
According to the source, officials accused the women of neglecting their organizational life and sewing clothes without registering with the state. In North Korea, organizational life refers to the compulsory membership of every citizen in a party-controlled group, where members attend regular ideological study and self-criticism sessions.
Some households in Yonbong-dong host teams of three to five women, including pattern cutters and seamstresses, who work together to produce clothing on order.
Under the typical arrangement, a donju, one of North Korea’s wealthy entrepreneurs, supplies seasonal fabric and places an order, after which the women divide the cutting and sewing among themselves and deliver the finished garments by an agreed date in exchange for a processing fee.
Because local women regard the work as a steadier source of income than trading in the jangmadang, or markets, many women in Hyesan are eager to join these sewing teams.
“Sewing clothes is an easier way to make money than sitting in the market selling goods,” the source said, adding that some women who want to join a team even bring their own sewing machines or overlock machines with them.
Women’s union crackdown sparks frustration in Hyesan
North Korean authorities, however, treat unregistered home production involving multiple workers as “anti-socialist” private enterprise and keep such operations under tight control, particularly when families set up sewing equipment in their homes.
The raid comes as the Kim Jong Un regime presses ahead with its campaign against “anti-socialist and non-socialist” behavior, which targets unauthorized private economic activity along with foreign culture and other perceived threats to state control.
According to the source, union officials launched the surprise inspection as a warning to members after women increasingly skipped study sessions, lectures and other organizational activities in order to earn money.
Although several homes in Yonbong-dong run similar tailoring operations, officials targeted only one of them, prompting some Hyesan locals to conclude that the women had been singled out to set an example for everyone else.
“If they attend study sessions and lectures, they can’t work during that time, and if they miss the delivery date, they don’t get paid the processing fee,” the source said. “Women are very frustrated because they’re being stopped from working just as orders pile up with the change of season.”
“People are finding their own ways to survive without any supplies from the state, yet when they manage to find a way to earn a living, the authorities crack down first and call it anti-socialist,” the source lamented. “To make ends meet, these women have no choice but to keep working even if it means risking another crackdown.”
About This Translation
This article was originally written in Korean and translated with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
A Note to Readers
Reporting from inside North Korea
Daily NK operates networks of sources inside North Korea who document events in real-time and transmit information through secure channels. Unlike reporting based on state media, satellite imagery, or defector accounts from years past, our journalism comes directly from people currently living under the regime. We verify reports through multiple independent sources and cross-reference details before publication.
Our sources remain anonymous because contact with foreign media is treated as a capital offense in North Korea — discovery means imprisonment or execution. This network-based approach allows Daily NK to report on developments other outlets cannot access: market trends, policy implementation, public sentiment, and daily realities that never appear in official narratives.
Maintaining these secure communication channels and protecting source identities requires specialized protocols and constant vigilance. Daily NK serves as a bridge between North Koreans and the outside world, documenting what’s happening inside one of the world’s most closed societies.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: dailynk.com
