In North Korea’s Hyesan, men’s new income is tearing families apart

North Korean women in Hyesan who used their market savings to buy vehicles for their husbands are now divorcing them after the men spent their new earnings on drugs and mistresses, a source in Ryanggang province told Daily NK on Thursday.

A source in Ryanggang province said a growing number of men in their 40s and 50s have started driving taxis now that the regime has loosened restrictions on private vehicle ownership. Because women have been the primary breadwinners since the famine of the 1990s, it is typically wives who provide the seed money for these ventures.

“Some husbands start earning an income with their wives’ help but end up spending all they earn on cheap thrills with little thought to help out their family,” the source said. “That’s a recipe for broken families.”

During the severe famine of the 1990s — known euphemistically as the “Arduous March” — North Korean women took over responsibility for supporting their families, often by selling goods at local markets. That arrangement has largely persisted, leaving wives as the de facto household financiers even as men’s economic activity has grown.

When husbands get money, families fall apart

Drug use appears to be the leading cause of domestic discord.

“Drugs are notoriously addictive and put people on edge. Men lose their cool over the most trivial of things and sometimes react violently. An increasing number of women are fed up with husbands who are users and have made up their minds to get a divorce,” the source said.

In one case, a man in his 50s began earning money last June after his wife bought him a vehicle. Once he had income, he took up drugs and was expelled from the home. He reportedly begged his wife to take him back, but she refused.

Women in Hyesan have been vocal about their frustration. “Men need to suffer a little. Treat them too well, and they’ll forget their gratitude,” one woman said. “If a husband acts like that despite knowing how hard his wife worked to support the family, he ought to be kicked to the curb,” said another.

The resentment reflects a broader grievance: men are still required to report to state-assigned jobs that pay negligible wages or rations, while women bear the real financial burden.

“In the past, wives just suffered in silence for the sake of their children, but not anymore. Lots of women will summarily end a relationship if they decide it’s not working out,” the source said. “Wives will often kick out their husbands and live apart even if they can’t arrange a legal divorce because of the red tape.”

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