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North Korean workers, volunteers warned against disobedience

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said last week during the third plenary session of the eighth Central Committee of the Workers' Party that difficulties must be confronted to achieve national economic goals. File Photo by KCNA/UPI
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said last week during the third plenary session of the eighth Central Committee of the Workers' Party that difficulties must be confronted to achieve national economic goals. File Photo by KCNA/UPI | License Photo

June 24 (UPI) -- North Korean workers have no right to refuse state orders, the regime's media said Thursday, as the country could be preparing to overcome a food shortage amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Workers' Party paper Rodong Sinmun said Thursday North Korean laborers have no right to back out of state projects that require volunteers mobilized to meet production targets at farms and factories.

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Goals of the Kim Jong Un regime are "achieved only through the sacrificial devotion and unrelenting struggle of workers who grind down their bones and shave off their flesh," the Rodong said.

"Success can be achieved only by decisively overcoming the difficulties," the article read. "Workers have no right to avoid trials and difficulties. They have no right to retreat out of fear of difficulties."

Rodong's warning against disobedience comes after Kim Jong Un addressed economic challenges facing the country during the third plenary session of the eighth Central Committee of the Workers' Party last week.

Kim said that his party will "break through head-on the difficulties lying in the way of the revolution."

The Party will remain "loyal to the revolutionary idea to the end, regardless of severer difficulties it may be confronted with in the future," Kim said, according to KCNA.

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During North Korea's Eighth Party Congress in January, Kim admitted to economic policy failures before disclosing a new Five-Year Plan for the economy.

The Party Congress focused on transport, capital construction and the building materials industry as areas of focus. Construction in North Korea often requires volunteer workers who sometimes are members of the Korean People's Army, defectors in the South have said.

The Rodong also said Thursday that "extraordinary perseverance and devotion to overcoming difficulties," along with a "deep sense of responsibility," is required among workers.

Defectors have said mobilized workers are forced to labor from early morning until late at night. Injuries are common at workplace sites, according to accounts.

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