Students from Pyongyang Publishing and Printing University helping with rice planting at Balsan Farm in South Pyongan province’s Jungsan county. (Rodong Sinmun-News1) North Korea’s foreign currency earning operations in North Pyongan province have stepped up activity in April, with raw materials procurement officers fanning out across multiple counties to collect over 40 categories of natural products, in what appears to be a concrete push to shift from exporting raw materials to exporting processed goods. A source in North Pyongan province told Daily NK on Monday that foreign currency earning bases in Jongju city, Kwaksan county, and Unjon county had recently received new collection quotas covering more than 40 product categories. Raw materials procurement officers (state-designated agents responsible for sourcing natural products for export through official foreign currency earning channels) have become noticeably more active as a result. The collection list includes wild mountain vegetables currently in season, among them aralia...

FILE PHOTO: A woman in Wonsan, Kangwon province, rides her bike past propaganda signs promoting the protection of forests. (The Daily NK) Forest supervision officers in North Korea have sharply intensified enforcement activity in April as authorities push forward with the country’s second-phase reforestation drive, with locals in South Pyongan province saying the officers have become more feared than the police. A source in South Pyongan province told Daily NK on Tuesday that forest supervision officers and forest protection officers (state forestry officials responsible for monitoring compliance with planting quotas and preventing unauthorized logging and land use) had become noticeably more active across Kaechon city, Anju city, and Tokchon city in recent weeks. The area is home to a concentration of coal mines, making unregulated logging a persistent problem and forest protection a high-priority concern for authorities. The source said inspections of tree planting performance, survival rates, and management records...

A shock absorber is fitted to the rear wheel of an electric bicycle used in North Korea to handle heavier loads. /Photo: Daily NK As supply and demand for electric bicycles and motorized scooters rise simultaneously across North Korea in 2026, a growing number of people are having their vehicles modified well beyond factory specifications to haul cargo and carry passengers for pay. According to a Daily NK source in North Pyongan province on Wednesday, traders and transport workers in Sinuiju, Ryongchon county, and Yomju county have increasingly been using electric bicycles and scooters as commercial vehicles. Performance modifications to boost load capacity beyond rated limits and increase top speed have become widespread. Reinforcing the frame to carry heavy cargo and passengers, adding auxiliary fittings, and installing higher-output batteries to increase motor power are now considered essential upgrades, the source said. “These days, the focus is not just on riding...

Farmers at Tongbong Cooperative Farm in Chigyong, South Hamgyong province, North Korea, June 2014. (Photo: Clay Gilliland/Flickr) Farm officials in North Korea’s Jagang province are leasing portions of state-owned agricultural land to private individuals for a fee, a scheme that allows them to collect both rental income and a share of the harvest. According to a Daily NK source in Jagang province on Wednesday, a farm in Kangye city began leasing parcels of farmland to private individuals in mid-April 2026. The farm’s management committee chairman has set aside between approximately 49,000 and 99,000 square meters from the farm’s total land and is renting it out at 10,000 North Korean won per 3.3 square meters. Because contracts are typically drawn up in 3,300-square-meter units, even the minimum contract requires an upfront payment of 10 million North Korean won. That sum is beyond the reach of ordinary farm workers, who are already...

The Wonjeong-ri customs post in Rason, North Hamgyong province, North Korea. /Photo: Daily NK A variety of imported vinyl flooring sheets are flowing into North Korea through border customs posts in 2026, but deepening economic hardship has gutted purchasing power among lower-income households, leaving demand well short of supply. “Various kinds of vinyl flooring have been coming in steadily through customs,” a Daily NK source in Ryanggang province said on Wednesday. “The selection is more varied than before, but actual demand is not high.” Spring and autumn are traditionally considered home repair seasons in North Korea, and April has typically been a period when markets see a noticeable uptick in flooring purchases. This year, the source said, things are different. Wealthier households have already moved on from vinyl flooring to higher-end materials like tiles, the source explained, while lower-income households have seen their finances deteriorate further, significantly reducing their willingness...

Two young men from Sariwon, the capital of North Hwanghae province, faced a public trial in April 2026 after robbing and killing a woman they attacked on a darkened street — and North Korean authorities used the occasion to send a broader political message, framing the killings as anti-state crimes rather than ordinary criminal offenses. A source in North Hwanghae province told Daily NK on Wednesday that two men in their 20s, both from Sariwon, had carried out a series of street robberies before fatally attacking a woman in her 40s in late March. Hundreds of local people gathered to witness the public trial, held April 8. According to details disclosed at the trial, the two men ambushed the woman in a dark alley on the outskirts of Sariwon as she was returning home from selling goods at market. They demanded her money and belongings, but she fought back desperately,...

A mosaic mural at Chongsan cooperative farm in North Pyongan province depicts Kim Il Sung meeting with agricultural workers. (Photo: Clay Gilliland/Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0) A wave of break-ins is sweeping rural areas of South Hamgyong province in April as thieves exploit the spring planting season to target homes left empty during the day, stealing food, solar panels, fertilizer, and cooking pots from households already struggling to get by. A source in South Hamgyong province told Daily NK on Monday that a string of burglaries had occurred in Kowon county and Yonggwang county, with local people heading to the fields to prepare for corn planting leaving their homes unattended for most of the day. “The losses local people are suffering are beyond description,” the source said. Corn planting in the area is set to begin from late April through early May, meaning virtually all working-age people are out in the...

North Korean media published this photo of education officials discussing how to select outstanding teachers on June 6, 2025. (Rodong Sinmin-News1) Teachers at a middle school in Chongjin have been ordered to produce teaching aids outside their subject areas ahead of a citywide instructional materials exhibition planned for this summer, adding to a growing pile of non-teaching duties that is pushing the profession from one of the most coveted jobs in North Korea to one of the most exhausting. A source in North Hamgyong province told Daily NK on Monday that education authorities in Chongjin plan to hold a teaching aids exhibition (a state-organized competition in which schools display self-produced instructional materials such as charts, models, and demonstration tools, used to assess teaching innovation) during the summer recess. As schools have begun preparing in earnest, teachers have taken on the additional burden of designing and producing the required materials. The...

“Members of the Socialist Patriotic Youth League on an excursion to the Mt. Paektu Milyong Birth Home climbed Mt. Paektu, the holy mountain of the Revolution on Feb. 20,” Rodong Sinmun reported on Feb. 21. (Rodong Sinmun-News1) North Korea’s ruling party apparatus in North Hamgyong province issued a special directive in April 2026 ordering a crackdown on ideological nonconformity among young people, as authorities sought to exploit the Kim Il Sung birthday holiday to tighten control over a restless generation. A source in North Hamgyong province told Daily NK that the North Hamgyong Provincial Party Committee issued the directive on April 13 through the Socialist Patriotic Youth League (the national youth political organization operating under the Workers’ Party of Korea, which mobilizes young people for ideological campaigns and labor). The directive called on members to intensify the “struggle against anti-socialist behavior” in the name of national security and regime preservation....

FILE PHOTO: A gasoline pump in Sinuiju. (Daily NK) Fuel hoarding has spread across parts of North Korea in April as rising global oil prices driven by the ongoing Middle East conflict push gasoline and diesel prices sharply higher. Anxiety over further price increases has sent vehicle owners scrambling to stockpile supplies before costs climb further. A source in Ryanggang province told Daily NK on Tuesday that vehicle owners in Hyesan had been competing to buy up fuel ahead of anticipated price increases. “Rumors are circulating that fuel prices will keep rising, which is intensifying the situation,” the source said. In North Korea’s border regions, a number of people maintain contact with individuals in China, South Korea, and other countries through Chinese mobile phones. Those networks have become a conduit for outside news, including reports on the conflict involving Iran, the United States, and Israel, and assessments that global oil...