International sanctions on coal exports and fuel imports are causing immense difficulties for North Koreans in the country’s coal and fishing industries, Daily NK sources recently reported.
“Mining operations at the Sunchon Cooperative Enterprise have come to a standstill due to a lack of funds. The enterprise has failed to properly install props to keep the mine shafts from collapsing, so the shafts have been caving in. There continues to be fatal accidents involving miners,“ a South Pyongan Province-based source told Daily NK on Friday.
Coal mines have been particularly hard hit ever since the export of coal was banned by international sanctions. Some mines have stopped producing coal entirely. This has caused economic difficulties for coal miners, the source explained.
There has been an increase in coal for heating purposes with the start of autumn. Miners are throwing caution to the wind and working in mines under dangerous and even fatal conditions to earn as much as they can, the source added.
“Miners enter the mines with just a knapsack and dig for coal with a spade. They face death in tunnels that don’t have props properly installed,” another source in the region told Daily NK. “In September, seven North Koreans who went into dig for coal were crushed when the tunnel they were in collapsed. Three died on the spot and the others were rushed to the hospital, but they will most likely not recover.”
North Korea’s fishermen are also facing dangerous situations partially due to the impact of international sanctions.
“There are frequent accidents involving fishing boats in the Hanchon region of Pyongwon. They go out to sea and their engines breakdown,” a source based in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK.
Fishermen are no longer able to acquire diesel fuel from the state because of international sanctions and North Korea’s economic downturn. They instead have turned to private diesel fuel merchants or have bought fuel from Chinese vessels. The fuel is low quality, but they just have to make due with what they get, Daily NK sources said.
The use of such low quality fuel overheats boat engines and causes frequent engine failures. At their worst, these failures lead to extremely dangerous situations where the lives of the fishermen are at risk.
“Boats that have gone out to sea will stop running because of poor quality fuel. The sailors have to row their ship back to shore and get towed to the harbor,” one of the sources explained. “That’s if they are lucky. Some boats have not been heard from in months.”
Daily NK previously reported that North Korean fishermen are risking their lives to catch enough fish to meet state-set quotas.
*Translated by Violet Kim
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