Victory Day Celebrations Plod Forth

This weekend, North Korea
marked July 27th, which it portrays as “Victory Day” in the Korean
War, with events honoring the sacrifices of veterans nationwide. Victory Day is
only celebrated on a grand scale every fifth year; as this year marked the 61st anniversary of the date, celebrations were smaller and more localized than last year.

“Factories and
enterprises greet Victory Day with numerous events related to the Great
Fatherland Liberation War, including group singing and the sharing of veterans’
battle stories,” a source in Yangkang Province recalled to Daily NK. “On the day, veterans also enjoy a feast offered by a designated restaurant.”

“Events are held
annually, but every year the type and quantity of goods distributed to
them differs,” she went on. “Some years they are given a 25kg sack of flour,
and in other years its firewood. Still, July 27th, the day when these events take place, continues to be a much-anticipated day for veterans.”

According to the
source, veterans in the Hyesan area were provided with food at a restaurant called Amrokgak this year, while the Civil Defense Department gathered goods from people in each province in order to distribute 2kg of
pork and some snacks to individual veterans. Predictably, the source claimed that
many of those receiving the goods go on to sell them in markets to buy
alternative foods.

The celebratory mood
does not apply to non-veterans; having been obliged to part with food to
supplement distribution to veterans, plenty of people feel that veterans use
the festivities as a license to make unwarranted demands. “Honorary
veterans use the status they get from the state to bully people and insist on
being given priority and special privileges,” the source explained.

Veterans are not the
only ones benefiting from the celebrations; Party cadres are often guilty of
taking the chance to pursue personal gain. “It was us who shed blood in the
war, but the ‘irrelevant ones (a pejorative term describing cadres)’ reap all
the profit,” the source said, reporting the feeling of some veterans. Cadres
are accused of such things as seizing meat earmarked for veterans and using it
to bribe senior officials in pursuit of promotion.

Rife with rent-seeking
and exploitation, the festivities suffer; the source alleged that some don’t
even bother. “This year as every year, the same orders were handed down to host
this and that event in enterprises, but rare are those who heed the demands,” she
said. “Only the most stubborn of Chosun Democratic Women continue to work hard for
the events.”

Abstaining
organizations rarely suffer repercussions, either, which makes it worse. “Central
Party cadres are well aware of this neglect, but don’t try to press the point,”
the source elaborated. “Cadres don’t need to be told about our troubles. After
all, it’s not as if you can
wring water out of a dead tree.”