North Korea’s poorest youth are choosing brutal labor brigades over life at home

Young North Koreans facing poverty and an unrelenting burden of workplace levies are volunteering for the country’s much-dreaded labor brigades in growing numbers, choosing grueling construction work as an escape from hardship at home.

A Daily NK source in North Hwanghae province said Friday that recent months have seen a rising number of young people in Sariwon and surrounding counties volunteering for labor brigades. “Almost all of them are young people whose families are struggling to put food on the table, or who find themselves unable to keep up with the various social levies demanded at their workplaces,” the source said.

One such case involves a man in his 30s, identified only as A, who works at a workplace in Sariwon. He volunteered for a labor brigade at the start of this month, leaving home after his family’s poverty left him unable to meet even basic daily needs. Despite the intense physical demands, he chose the brigade because it offers regular meals.

Labor brigades have long been a fixture of North Korea’s collective labor mobilization system. Construction sites for state policy projects rely heavily on brigade-style mass mobilization, and workplaces across the country routinely receive quotas requiring them to supply personnel for deployment.

Poverty drives young people toward brigades once universally shunned

Because brigade deployment means enduring brutal labor conditions and a harsh living environment, North Korean people have historically gone to considerable lengths to avoid being sent. Workplace officials have long struggled to fill their assigned quotas. In recent months, however, the growing stream of volunteers has eased that burden significantly.

The source said workplaces have faced continuous directives over the past two to three years to provide brigade personnel for grueling construction sites including local industry factories and residential housing projects. “Labor department officials and other workplace managers have felt no small amount of pressure over their inability to fill their quotas, but lately some young people from difficult family backgrounds have been volunteering on their own initiative, which has taken a load off,” the source said.

The source added that the calculation driving these decisions is straightforward: “When you go to work, there are constant demands to hand over money for various social levies, and you need cash to meet them. If your family can’t provide that, some people decide it’s better to take the physical hardship of a brigade and relieve the family’s financial burden while getting out from under all the workplace demands.”

A man in his 30s identified as B, who works at a workplace in Hyesan in Ryanggang province, volunteered late last month for a residential housing construction brigade in Paekam county. A Ryanggang province source said B has been living in a common-law relationship because his financial situation prevented him from holding a wedding ceremony, and that frequent arguments over money ultimately led him to volunteer for the brigade.

“What more is there to say about someone who volunteered for a brigade that nobody wants to go to,” the source said. “Cases like this, where young people in difficult circumstances choose the brigade, are no longer rare.”

The Rodong Sinmun newspaper has recently run a string of reports claiming that young people from around the country are volunteering for major construction sites. While those reports frame the trend as voluntary enthusiasm, sources say the reality on the ground is that these are the desperate choices of young people pushed to the wall by poverty.

Meanwhile, young people from wealthier families are doing the opposite, reportedly paying officials bribes of at least 1,000 Chinese yuan (approximately $138) to secure exemptions from brigade deployment.

“Young people from poor families have no choice but to volunteer for difficult brigade postings, while those from wealthy families are paying their way out,” the source said. “The sense that your path in life is determined by your family’s finances is growing stronger, and with it, a deepening feeling of deprivation. That’s why young people are increasingly focused on finding any way to earn more money.”

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