Producing manure and firing missiles are equally important to North Korea. Here’s why Kim Jong Un is asking his citizens to make more poop.
North Korea: Manure crisis
North Korea is in dire need of manure and, it does not matter if it is from animals or people. The nation has been waging “the battle for manure”, a very vital for the nation compared to another test-shot into the east coast seas. The need is now at a crisis level since fertilizer imports from China stopped. China stopped sending fertilizers as Kim Jong Un, closed the borders of the nation. Additionally, the nation also refused donations from South Korea. The regime was also demanding an end to UN and US sanctions.
According to Victor Cha, the charge of North Korea issues in Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies stated that it “doesn’t sound like ‘BS’ to me”. “It’s an interesting commentary that ‘smells’ of how serious the crop situation is without the annual fertilizer shoveled out by South Korea,” added Cha. Additionally, on Tuesday, Cha stated that it is happening while we are constantly digging ourselves out of the crap created by the latest North Korean missile launches”.
The need for more poop
This year, manure is the “first struggle” for North Korea, not missiles. According to Daily NK, authorities are pressuring people to qualify for a “manure pass”. The quota for producing manure is between 200 to 500 kilograms. However, people get a single break. According to reports, “Markets this month began opening an hour later in the afternoon, from 3 to 5 rather than 2 to five, to give an extra hour to produce manure”.
But, how can people contribute with manure? The North Korean media reports suggest the term “homemade”. By definition, it means making manure with human or animal excreta along with garbage, weeds, or chemicals. Oxen, commonly used on farms are a popular choice. According to the Pyongyang Times, a cooperative farm in a district in Pyongyang spread “hundreds of tons of homemade manure per hectare of vegetables”.
People from Jagang province “carried tens of thousands of tons of manure to co-op farms in three days through this year’s first campaign”. “Officials of the provincial institutions took the lead in the campaign, guiding the transport of manure to farm fields,” added the report. According to reports, the manure campaign is being met with the same enthusiasm as missile launches. The North Korean authorities are trying to generate a competition of atmosphere.