10. Entering Society
I began my journey into society on September 20, 1982, heading to work for the first time. The factory where I was assigned was conveniently located not far from my home, just across the river. It was situated in an area known for its concentration of factories, a notable feature often referenced in nationwide student exams. Coincidentally, my mother’s workplace, a supply station (물자공급소), faced my factory.
This factory holds significant historical importance. It was visited by Kim Il Sung on May 8, 1963, with three more visits following. Known as the “May 8 Forestry Machinery Factory (5월8일 림업기계공장),” it specializes in producing accessories for machinery used in logging operations in the mountains. It stands as the sole factory of its kind in North Korea.
When a military production department (군수직장) was added to the premises, all graduates from our region in 1982 were sent to the factory. Those assigned to the military department were under strict regulations, needing to stay until marriage and signing pledges of secrecy upon entry. Surveillance was tight, with armed guards at the front gate.
Many graduates ended up in the military department, despite any teary resistance they showed. Thankfully, I was placed in the general equipment department as a lathe apprentice, avoiding the military department.
On our first day of work, all of us newly assigned workers gathered in the factory’s labor and safety education room for a two-hour training session. Our instructor, a reserved individual who had previously served as a company commander in the army before being discharged, stood before us. He shared that, like us, he was also new to civilian life after spending his entire post-middle school years in the military.
As we, a group of 18-year-old young workers, listened intently, we shared our fears and anxieties about entering the workforce. The labor department staff meticulously outlined workplace precautions, explained our wage structure, and detailed the process for receiving ration slips (배급표). We learned that wages were disbursed at the beginning of each month, while ration slips were issued every 15 days. Additionally, they emphasized that any missed days of work would result in a deduction of one point from our ration slips.
During this period, households across North Korea relied on rations distributed by state-run centers, receiving provisions once every 15 days. Families carefully managed their rationed rice, often selling any surplus to acquire essential items for daily living. While families with multiple wage earners could sustain themselves, those relying on a single breadwinner always faced food shortages.
The amount of daily rations allocated varied based on the age and status of dependents. Working adults typically received 700 grams per day, while children below school age were allotted 300 grams. Students attending people’s schools up to the 3rd grade of middle school received 400 grams, and those in the 4th to 5th grades of middle school received 500 grams. University and college students, considered adults, were granted 600 grams daily. However, housewives and retirees received only 300 grams per day, which is why families with those members had insufficient food.
Furthermore, individuals who were not currently employed, either due to dissatisfaction with their jobs or for other reasons, did not receive rations. Instead, they relied on sharing the rations of other family members.
After completing safety training on our first day of work, my friends and I were escorted to our designated workplace in the afternoon. We were introduced to the head of the department in the office on the second floor before being directed to our respective departments.
In my department, there were seven women and three men. Most of the male graduates typically joined the military, so there weren’t many who transitioned into civilian life. However, those unable to enlist in the army due to family background or health issues were assigned to the factory.
The large building housed several departments, including the facility department (설비직장), public affairs department (공무직장), processing department (가공직장), metal forging department (제관직장), tooling department (공구직장), and a laboratory. The facility department where I was assigned was located at the front of the building, with rows of lathes neatly arranged.
The facility department housed dozens of workers, divided into three work groups (작업반) numbered 1 to 3. Among the workers were men around my father’s age, some older women soon to be married, and discharged soldiers from the military.
As young men and women, fresh to the workforce, timidly entered the lounge, those already seated applauded and warmly welcomed us. After exchanging greetings, we took our seats. The department head (직장장) soon joined us, and we began introducing ourselves one by one.
While we were still in the midst of introductions and conversation, a female worker entered the resting room upon the department head’s call. He assigned each of us an experienced lathe worker and instructed them to take good care of us apprentices. The female worker greeted us individually and then turned to me, asking, “Aren’t you the daughter of the shoe factory manager?”
I was too embarrassed to speak and lowered my head with an awkward smile. Still, she began talking loudly in front of everyone, “Yes, right. Hey, nice to meet you!” She continued, “She is a famous track and field athlete. How is she here? She won first place every time she competed. Why didn’t you go to the upper school?” She kept chatting and asking me questions. The people in the lounge started talking and laughing, saying things like, “How did such a talented girl enter the workforce instead of going to a higher school?” and “Our factory has a sports team; she could join it!”
The woman said she knew me and my family well. Seeing I was nervous, she mentioned her father’s name and said she was the eldest daughter. Then I realized she was the daughter of Uncle Jeon Young-ik, who came down from Pyongyang on the same train as my father when he was first selected as the factory manager and sent to the province.
Her father, labeled as No 49, was deported from Pyongyang due to his family background that had ties with South Korea during or after the war. My siblings and I called him Uncle Young-ik. He came down from Pyongyang without knowing anyone in the province, so he followed my father, who was from the same hometown, calling him older brother and willingly took on the hard work at our house when needed.
However, I had never been to his house and didn’t know what his family looked like. But she and her family knew everyone in my family and even the personalities of each member. Decades have passed since then, but I still vividly remember the first day I stepped into society and her name: Jeon Hwa-ok. She was getting older every year without the prospect of marriage due to her family background but later married a discharged soldier assigned to the same department. He was discharged without being able to join the Party. This kind-hearted man and Hwa-ok had two sons together, but he one day fell ill with stomach cancer and passed away before turning 50 years old.
I ran into Hwa-ok later, selling noodles in the market. She looked very aged and weak.
My first day went like this. I became an apprentice to Hwa-ok and learned how to cut nuts and bolts on a lathe.
My routine life in the factory continued. I arrived at 7:30 in the morning and cleaned the lounge. The day officially began with newspaper reading in the education room (교양실) by the work group leader (작업반장) or agitator (선동원). After that, the head of the department announced the daily assignments and gave us precautions. Once he left, we received work sheets with the specific production numbers. The workers then went to their lathes and started cutting components. As apprentices, we followed around our senior engineers and learned the skills.
In the meantime, the Sarochong committee (Choson Socialist Labor Youth Federation, 조선사회주의로동청년동맹) at the factory told us to keep studying at night college, so we signed up.
I thought studying after work would be hard, but it was actually fun. People who went to night school didn’t have to work overtime. When it was time to leave, our work group leader made sure we went to class.
I didn’t study much in middle school, but now I wanted to be a good student. Classes were from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Some students fell asleep and snored during the last class.
Such night schools no longer exist, but back then, North Korea developed talent by running night universities and colleges. If many graduates went to universities or colleges, there wouldn’t be enough workers for factories. So, the policy was to reduce the number of students recommended for upper school, send most graduates to work, and have them continue their education at night.
My brother was later discharged from the military and worked at our father’s factory. He graduated at the top of his class from the night technical university and became a chemical engineer.
The night school teachers respected the students who worked all day and studied in the evening. Even if some students couldn’t stay awake and dozed off, the teachers pretended not to notice. This made the other students feel ashamed, so they would poke the dozing students to wake them up.
Two weeks before New Year’s Day in 1983, open-topped trains filled with frozen pollacks started arriving at the factory. Ten workers from each department were mobilized to unload the pollacks.
Apprentices were mobilized for this task in my department. Workers from two departments handled one train compartment full of pollacks. Separating the frozen pollacks was tough work, using pickaxes and levers. This strenuous task lasted for two days. We worked through the night, taking turns to warm up in the resting room, five people at a time. During these breaks, we grilled a few big pollacks on the space heater, and they were incredibly delicious.
We also cooked wrapped pollacks inside the anthracite stove. After about 20 minutes, we peeled off the paper, revealing well-roasted, golden-colored pollacks.
Even when I was full, I still brought pollacks to the lounge during breaks because grilling fish was fun.
When the unloaded pollacks were distributed, the department accountant and we apprentices divided them for each worker, placing a name tag on each share.
Once this task was completed, the accountant told the workers to take their share when they left work. I asked Hwa-ok to take my share too because I already had plenty of pollacks at home.
We had years-old dried pollacks in our warehouse. There would be no place to store more if I added the amount my mother, father, and third sister would receive from their workplaces.
The price of the fish supplied to workers was deducted from our monthly wages, but the deduction was negligible. In retrospect, North Korea didn’t have enough food in the 1980s, but there was plenty of fish.
Since the 1960s, Kim Il-sung instructed the fisheries sector to catch fish “in distant and near, deep and shallow seas” so that all ships would return with a full load of fish. There was even a song released around that period called “Song of the Sea” (바다의 노래).
Thanks to Kim Il-sung’s instructions to “catch large and small fish and place more fish on the people’s table,” fish was once abundant. However, fish dishes disappeared from tables after about a decade because the price of dried pollack increased 100 times in the 1990s. Rumors spread that pollack was wiped out in North Korean waters due to indiscriminate fishing.
My peaceful and monotonous work life passed by with everyone in the workplace and friends. The social life I experienced was like living with a large family who helped each other, understood, and worked together without quarrels and hatred.
Among the many slogans in the factory, the one that stood out was, “One for All! All for One!” It was popular since our school years.
Living by this slogan was important. Perhaps that’s why I never saw factory leaders or colleagues harassing or mistreating others. I always felt grateful, thinking I was fortunate to be born in such a good country, North Korea.
I felt even more grateful for my homeland when I listened to the daily news and broadcasts about South Korea, which said people there were poor, mistreated, and many were begging or committing suicide.
In this way, I began my social life with my friends and the love of everyone in the workplace, full of warm affection. I never imagined that the rough times of life would soon begin.