Human Waste: A Booming Business in North Korea, As People Hoard, And Save It from Poo Thieves

North Korea is facing serious threats of famine, as embargo on chemicals has forced Kim Jong II’s regime to order an immediate stockpiling of human wastes as an alternative to fertilizers.

Kim Jong II follows in the footsteps of North Korea’s past leaders by ordering poo quota.

According to reports, survivors of the dictator’s brutal regime reveal the country’s leaders are making demands on citizens to save their poop.

This “exercise” is expected to help contribute to North Korea’s agricultural growth so the country won’t run out of food supplies as they fight famine.

 

South Korea used to be the country’s supplier of fertilizer but not until the North sank one of its ships, forcing it to severe ties.

Although the two countries reached a short-lived agreement on the supplies in 2010, the relationship is said to have deteriorated again.

The Daily Star reveals that Yeonmi Park who was lucky to escape from North Korea in 2007 provided details of what people are suffering in the country.

Image shows Yeonmi Park.

According to the report, she wrote down her life experience–including how families were forced to collect animal and human excreta to make up for the scarce fertilizer.

She said: “The government came up with a campaign to fill the fertiliser gap with a local and renewable source: human and animal waste.

“Every worker and every school had a quota to fill. You can imagine what kind of problems this created for our families.

“Every member of the household had a daily assignment, so when we got up in the morning, it was like a war. My aunts were the most competitive.”

She wrote how her family became competitive about how much they could produce and Canada’s National Post reported that shops even began selling it in 2010.

Every member of the household had a target to meet. Each person was apparently expected to save some hundreds of kilograms of poo, which was then mixed with straw to create fertiliser.

In her memoir, In Order To Live, Ms Park recalls how her aunt in Kowon urged her not to poop in school but to wait until she got home. No matter what happens, you are not expected to “shit” elsewhere except at home.

Another of Park’s aunt in Songnam-ri would loudly moan and complain bitterly, if for any reason she got uncomfortable outside home and was forced to poop.

That’s like losing money, you know?

Some people even raided their neighbour’s toilets in a bid to meet their quotas, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper revealed in 2013.

Stealing poop became a common thing though a punishable offense in North Korea. You either eat and make your own poop if you wish to avoid that urge to steal.

And when you hoard yours, better watch out for poop thieves because they roam about waiting for you to slip.

Image shows a famine-stricken farm in North Korea during the 90’s.

Ms Park recalled: “Our bathrooms in North Korea were unusually far away from the house, so you had to be careful that the neighbours didn’t steal from you at night.

“Some people would lock up their outhouses to keep the poop thieves away. At school the teachers would send us out into the streets to find poop and carry it back to class.

“So if we saw a dog pooping in the street, it was like gold. My uncle in Kowon had a big dog who made a big poop – and everyone in the family would fight over it.”