Students at a middle school just minutes from the Sino-North

Korean border are studying in a building so dilapidated that it doesn’t even have

a functioning roof, an inside source has revealed to Daily NK. The source from

North Hamkyung Province reported the news on the 27th, saying, “The

condition of Yuseon Middle School in Hoeryeong is so bad it looks like it’s

been bombed.”

The situation has come to pass as a result of the

state mobilizing local residents for construction projects but without the

materials to do so effectively, the source explained. This has

led people to steal materials from the structure of the school building.

“The situation is so bad that it doesn’t look like anyone is

even studying there. Snow has built up on the floor because

the roof is missing, and on these sunny days that snow has been melting,

running all over the place and staining student books.”

According to the source, in recent years many people have departed

from Yuseon Workers’ District, where the school is located, and student numbers

at the school have fallen as a result. Therefore, the decision was taken some

time ago to only use one level of the three-storey school building.

Thereafter, floorboards and window frames began to slowly disappear

from the upper floors. Now, as spring arrives, not only the roof tiles but also

the ridge beam and rafters have started to go.

The source placed most of the responsibility for the state of affairs on

unfunded mandates in straitened economic times. “This happened because when regional

economies declined, firms started converting industrial sites into private

residences,” he explained. “Resources for this are in perennially short supply,

and here the people have taken them in secret from the empty classrooms. So now we

are in this situation.”

“Because a lot of state-run firms never resumed normal

operations, I imagine this kind of incident has been happening elsewhere, too,”

he surmised.

The national and regional authorities are accused of turning

a blind eye to the poor conditions faced by students at the school. As a result, school administrators have been forced to employ temporary measures to keep the school operational; students

have been asked to obtain vinyl sheets to cover the open roof and protect classrooms

from the worst of the elements.

The remaining parents are concerned at the state of the school,

with many reportedly fearing that it could collapse at any moment. However, in North Korea public opinion has limited impact on official policy. “This spring has seen the walls painted and limewashed, but they didn’t touch the

roof,” the source said.

“Markets here in Chosun are just likes markets anywhere- there

is nothing you can’t find there,” he noted. “Yet schools and factory buildings

in this region are in such a terrible state that it still looks like a war

zone.”

At the same time, widespread dissatisfaction at the state of

provincial industrial and social infrastructure is being heightened by the crudeness of economic policy decisions taken at the center.

The Kim Jong Eun regime continues to emphasize the construction

of leisure and amusement facilities in a few major urban areas, predominantly

Pyongyang. This is being done upon the pretext of “improving the lives of the

people,” but people in outlying areas do not see much evidence of improvement in their vicinities. To them, Kim regime policy is simply fuelling existing regional

inequalities.