Workers’ Orgs to Hold Conferences in May and June

National headquarters of the Kim Il Sung Youth League (L) and the Korea Democratic Women’s Union (R) in Pyongyang (Photo: Google image)

DPRK state media reported on 4 May (Friday) that the four major Workers’ Organizations will hold membership conferences “from late May to early June.”  KCNA reports:

Conferences of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea, the Union of Agricultural Workers of Korea and the Democratic Women’s Union of Korea are to be held here from late May to early June.

Discussed there will be the tasks of the working people’s organisations to hold in high esteem President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il as eternal leaders of the Party and revolution, carry through the decision of the Fourth Conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea and build a thriving socialist nation under the guidance of the dear respected Kim Jong Un.

It is not clear if the Workers’ Organizations’ conferences are linked to another large gathering in Pyongyang connected to boosting the country’s food supply.  Good Friends reported on its website on 2 May (Wednesday) that “the new leadership decided to hold a homeland meeting in Pyongyang early in May with the intent of preparing measures to resolve the problem of food shortages.  Three to four functionaries of related fields from each county, and even larger numbers from each city are continuing to gather in Pyongyang. . .the scale is second only to the party representatives’ conference held on 11 April.”  Good Friends also reported that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n), “personally ordered the meeting to be held, saying that good methods of food production should be sought fundamentally.”

AFP reports:

North Korean officials from across the country will meet in Pyongyang this month to discuss ways to boost agriculture in the food-scarce nation, a Seoul aid group said on Thursday.

The ‘Homeland Conference’ will focus on ways to expand farmland in the mountainous nation by cultivating rugged areas and inactive land, Good Friends said on its website.

The meeting will draw hundreds of people including central and local government officials, ruling communist party officials and other state agencies, making it as large as a party meeting last month, the aid group said.

Seoul’s unification ministry could not immediately confirm the reported meeting, for which the aid group gave no date.

The North suffered a famine which killed hundreds of thousands in the 1990s and severe food shortages continue. UN agencies said last November that three million people would need food aid this year and child malnutrition was rising.

Good Friends said the Pyongyang meeting would also consider a chronic workforce shortage in agriculture.

Many collectivised farms suffer high rates of absenteeism as farmers roam in search of roots and wild greens to compensate for grain shortages, it said.

Dutch Stamp Collector Detained in DPRK Gives Interview

Store front of Willem van der Bijl's stamp and coin shop on Zandelstraat in Utrecht (Photo: RTV Utrecht)

A Dutch citizen held by DPRK authorities during the summer of 2011 has given a media interview about his detention.  Willem van der Bijl, a Utrecht shop owner and stamp collector, was detained and interrogated by the north’s Ministry of State Security for nearly two weeks from 29 July to 12 August.  Van der Bijl told NRC Handelsblad that he was arrested on espionage charges and kept in a 2 m by 3 m (6 ft by 9 ft) cell, surrounded by four armed guards.  He was interrogated three times a day, at 90 minute intervals, by two DPRK officials.  When not being interrogated, Van der Bijl spent 15 hours per day sitting in the chair in his cell.  Radio Netherlands Worldwide has a gist of the interview in its daily review of the Dutch press:

Philatelist Willem van der Bijl spent two weeks in a North Korean cell. The authorities mistrusted his Korean contacts and his collection of souvenirs. Not to mention the surreptitious snaps of an old village on his laptop: “You are trying to convince your leaders that our country is poor!” he was told.

Mr Van der Bijl’s account of his ordeal confirms quite a few suspicions about life under the Communist dictatorship. “I was in a cell, two by three metres with only a bed and a hard chair. I had to sit on the chair for 15 hours a day. I was surrounded by four soldiers 24 hours a day. I’m a positive fellow but it’s no wonder I began to lose my mind.” Thankfully he did not suffer any physical violence and after copying out a nine-page confession, he was eventually released.

So what was he doing in North Korea in the first place? “I love the people there,” he says. “They are sweet and naive … I’m an inquisitive soul, always have been. And it’s a fascinating place.” He admits he’s addicted and itching to go back. But he sighs “my friends and family won’t let me.”

Van der Bijl traveled to the DPRK 24 times, since 1998.  He was presumed missing on or about 30 July 2011, when he was not his return flight to Holland.  His colleagues and neighbors presumed that he had been detained.  While he was under arrest, DPRK media published a short essay about elections to local power organs which was supposedly written by Van der Bijl and carried an image of him wearing a party lapel pin.

van der Bijl Returns to NL

Storefront of Willem van der Bijl's shop on Zandelstraat in Utrecht, NL. (Photo: Winkenelsvinden.nl)

Willem van der Bijl, owner of a Utrecht stamp and coin shop, returned to The Netherlands via Beijing on Saturday (13 August).  Mr. van der Bijl had been slated to return to his home country on 30 July, but was not on his return flight.  People close to van der Bijl claim that he may have been detained by DPRK authorities for weeks.  During the time of his disappearance, he appeared in DPRK media where talked about his visit to a polling place for elections to local power organs (i.e. Local People’s Assemblies).  Mr. van der Bijl had traveled to the DPRK on up to two dozen occasions.  Radio Netherlands reports:

A spokesperson said the foreign ministry never comments on individual cases. However, a friend of the family told local television channel RTV Utrecht that Van der Bijl was held on suspicion of subversive activities. He said Van der Bijl was interrogated for two weeks before being put on a plane to Beijing on Saturday.

Mr Van der Bijl, who has visited the country a number of times at the invitation of North Korean business partners, was originally scheduled to return to the Netherlands on 30 July.

His Dutch business associate Ronald de Groen raised the alarm when he failed to appear for the return flight. At the time, Mr De Groen had not spoken to Mr Van der Bijl for some weeks because foreigners have to hand in their mobile phones when they enter North Korea.

In the past few weeks, the foreign ministry repeatedly contacted the North Korean authorities to inquire after the whereabouts and the wellbeing of Van der Bijl. ,,We are glad he was able to leave the country,” the spokesperson said.

KJI Votes Early and Often

Kim Jong Il casts his ballot in elections for local government elections in Ryo'ngso'ng District, Pyongyang on 24 July (Photo: KCNA)

Kim Jong Il (Kim Cho’ng-il) participated in local elections in Ryo’ngso’ng District, Pyongyang, on 24 July (Sunday).  According to KCNA, KJI voted for Pak Hyong Ryol, a manager of the Pyongyang Cornstarch Factory, as a representative to the Pyongyang City People’s Assembly, and Kim Chol Ho, a manager of the Ryo’ngso’ng Quail Factory, as representative to the Ryo’ngso’ng District (kuyo’k) People’s Assembly.  KJI talked with the two candidates after he voted.  He was joined by CMC Members Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) and Kim Kyong Ok (Kim Kyo’ng-ok) and met at his polling place by SPA Presidium Vice President Yang Hyong Sop (Yang Hyo’ng-sop) and Pyongyang City KWP Committee Chief Secretary Mun Kyong Dok (Mun Kyo’ng-tok).

DPRK citizens participate in elections to local government on 24 July (Photo: KCNA)

According to Article 139 of the 2009 DPRK Constitution, “the term of office…of people’s assemblies shall be four years” which is also the term of office for local people’s committees.  Kim Jong Il last participated in local elections on 29 July 2007, but cast his ballot at a cooperative farm in Hamju County, South Hamgyo’ng Province.

Local people’s assemblies [LPA] function like the Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] at the provincial (city), municipal (city district) and county levels.  LPA’s meet infrequently to approve development (economic) plans and budgets and decide personnel matters on local people’s committees.  LPA’s  also can appoint or dismiss officials of local people’s courts.  Unlike the SPA, an LPA does not have personnel power over local public prosecutor’s offices.

According to Articles 137-144 of the 2009 DPRK Constitution

Article 137. Provincial (municipality directly under the central authority), municipal (district), and county people’s assemblies are the local organs of sovereignty.

Article 138. The local people’s assemblies shall be composed of the deputies elected on the principle of universal, equal, and direct suffrage by secret ballot.

Article 139. The term of office of provincial (municipality directly under the central authority), municipal (district), and county people’s assemblies shall be four years. A new election of the local people’s assembly shall be held prior to the expiry of its term of office according to the decision of the local people’s committee at the corresponding level. When unavoidable circumstances render an election impossible, the term of office shall be extended until an election is held.

Article 140. The local people’s assembly shall have the duties and authority to:

1. Deliberate and approve local plans for the development of the people’s economy and reports on the status of their implementation.

2. Deliberate and approve local budgets and reports on their execution.

3. Establish measures to execute the laws of the state in the local area concerned.

4. Elect or recall the chairman, vice chairmen, secretary, and members of the people’s committee at the corresponding level.

5. Elect or recall judges and people’s assessors of the court at the corresponding level.

6. Rescind erroneous decisions and directives of the people’s committee at the corresponding level and of the people’s assemblies and people’s committees at lower levels.

Article 141. The local people’s assembly shall hold regular sessions and extraordinary sessions. Regular sessions shall be convened once or twice a year by the people’s committee at the corresponding level.  Extraordinary sessions shall be convened when the people’s committee at the corresponding level deems them necessary or at the request of more than one-third of the total number of deputies.

Article 142. The local people’s assembly requires a quorum of more than two-thirds of the total number of deputies in order to meet.

Article 143. The local people’s assembly shall elect its chairman. The chairman shall preside over the sessions.

Article 144. The local people’s assembly shall issue decisions.

Local people’s committees [LPC] have been in use in the DPRK since 1946, although their role has changed significantly over the years.  LPC’s are the mother hen of the local government apparatus.   It functions as the local government authority, between meetings of the LPA, and has   The LPC generates local development plans, budgets and ordinances which are submitted for approval to the LPA, to whom the LPC technically reports.  However, the LPC is the local implementation and execution arm of the central government.  It is tasked with enacting the orders and/or decisions of the SPA, the SPA Presidium, the National Defense Commission [NDC], the NDC Chairman, the DPRK Cabinet and the Cabinet’s ministries or its other subordinate organs.  References to the National Defense Commission or “the orders of the chairman of the NDC” (itemized in article 147) in the context of LPC’s were one of the revisions in the 2009 constitution.

According to Articles 145 to 152 of the 2009 DPRK Constitution:

Article 145.  Provincial (municipality directly under the central authority), municipal (district), and county people’s committees are the local organs of sovereignty when the people’s assembly at the corresponding level is in recess, and are the administrative and executive organs of local sovereignty at the corresponding level.

Article 146. The local people’s committee shall be composed of the chairman, vice chairmen, secretary, and members. The term of office of the local people’s committee shall be the same as that of the people’s assembly at the corresponding level.

Article 147. The local people’s committee shall have the duties and authority to:

1. Convene the people’s assembly sessions.

2. Carry out the work of electing deputies to the people’s assembly.

3. Carry out work with deputies to the people’s assembly.

4. Execute the decisions and directives of the relevant local people’s assembly and of the people’s committees at higher levels; the laws, ordinances, and decisions of the SPA; the orders of the chairman of the DPRK NDC; the decisions and directives of the NDC; the decrees, decisions, and directives of the SPA Presidium; and the decisions and directives of the Cabinet and the committees and ministries of the Cabinet.

5. Organize and execute all administrative work in the local area concerned.

6. Draw up local plans for the development of the people’s economy and establish measures for their implementation.

7. Compile local budgets and establish measures for their execution.

8. Establish measures to maintain public order, protect the property and interests of the state and social cooperative organizations, and guarantee the rights of citizens in the local area concerned.

9. Carry out the inspection and control work aimed at establishing order in state administration in the local area concerned.

10. Guide the work of the people’s committees at lower levels.

11. Rescind erroneous decisions and directives of the people’s committees at lower levels, and suspend the execution of erroneous decisions of the people’s assemblies at lower levels.

Article 148. The local people’s committee shall hold plenary meetings and executive meetings. The plenary meetings of the local people’s committee shall be composed of all its members, and the executive meetings shall be composed of the chairman, vice chairmen, and secretary.

Article 149. The plenary meetings of the local people’s committee shall discuss and decide on the important issues raised in fulfilling its duties and in exercising its authority. The executive meetings shall discuss and decide on the issues delegated by the plenary meetings.

Article 150. The local people’s committee shall issue decisions and directives.

Article 151. The local people’s committee may have non-standing sectoral committees to assist it in its work.

Article 152. The local people’s committee shall be accountable for its work to the people’s assembly at the corresponding level. The local people’s committee shall be subordinate to the people’s committees at higher levels, the Cabinet, and the SPA Presidium.