Inminban (Korean: 인민반; Hancha: 人民班; RR: inmin-ban; MR: inmin-ban; meaning "neighbourhood units" or "people's units") is a neighbourhood watch-like form of cooperative local organization in North Korea. No North Korean person exists outside the inminban system; everyone is a member.[1]
History edit
The inminban network was established by the late 1960s. Every North Korean woman who does not have a full-time job is required to participate in inminban activities, which include cleaning public toilets, tidying up the neighbourhood, manufacturing small items at home, and occasionally going to the countryside to do agricultural work. This made women without jobs nearly as busy as those with jobs, and was said to contribute to high female participation in the North Korea workforce. In the late 1960s employed North Korean women received a 700-gram (25 oz) ration of rice daily, where women who participated in inminban instead of having a job received just 300 grams (11 oz).[2] Since the 1990s, the effectiveness of the inminban network has weakened.[3]
Structure edit
A typical inminban consists of 25 to 50 families and is defined by residential proximity. For example, an inminban might consist of all families sharing a common staircase in a large apartment building. Each inminban is headed by an official, usually a middle-aged woman, known as inminbanjang (people's unit head). She will ordinarily receive a small stipend from the state for her work, as well as additional food rations.[4]
The inminban system is not formally part of the North Korean security apparatus, but supports it. All inminban members are responsible for monitoring each other for criminal activity or political disobedience. The inminbanjang meets regularly with party authorities, and reports misbehaviour to them. The local district office people's committee (洞事務所人民委員會) oversees her work and passes down to her directives from the Workers' Party of Korea.[5][4][6]
Some scholars say that the North Korean economic crisis and subsequent famine of the 1990s has left North Korea unable to compensate functionaries such as inminbanjang, reducing their incentive to help the state maintain social control. Inminbanjang are said to still be an important support to the North Korean security apparatus, but perhaps less motivated and diligent than they used to be.[7]
In addition to surveillance, the inminban engages in managing neighborhoods by, for instance, taking care of garbage[3] and sewage which can be an additional point of income.[8]
See also edit
- Mass surveillance in North Korea
- Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (Cuba)
- Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (Burkina Faso)
- Blockleiter (Nazi Germany)
- Informal collaborator (East Germany)
- Voluntary People's Druzhina (Soviet Union)
- Tonarigumi (WWII-era Japan)
- Work unit
References edit
- ^ Hassig, Ralph; Oh, Kongdan (2009). The hidden people of North Korea : everyday life in the hermit kingdom. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 5. ISBN 978-0742567184.
- ^ Lankov 2007, pp. 74, 176.
- ^ a b Lankov, Andrei (2015). The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-19-939003-8.
- ^ a b Lankov 2007, pp. 74, 174.
- ^ Katzeff Silberstein 2010, p. 8.
- ^ Demick, Barbara (2010). Nothing to envy: ordinary lives in North Korea (Spiegel & Grau trade pbk. ed.). New York: Spiegel & Grau. ISBN 978-0385523912.
- ^ Katzeff Silberstein 2010, pp. 8–9.
- ^ North Korean Community Leaders Granted Right to Sell Sewage as Fertilizer for Farms
Works cited edit
- Katzeff Silberstein, Benjamin (1 January 2010). "North Korea: Fading Totalitarianism in the 'Hermit Kingdom'" (PDF). Research Institute of Industrial Economics. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1619270. S2CID 219342287.
- Lankov, Andrei (2007). North of the DMZ: essays on daily life in North Korea. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0786428397.
External links edit
- Photos of inminban noticeboards at an apartment, Yle (in Finnish)