People are freezing because firewood is needed to make birthday presents for Kim Jong-il, the Dear Leader who died over 14 years ago.. Another day in the great socialist fatherland of North Korea.
People gathering firewood in the hills along North Korea’s northern border with China are dodging forest rangers who have intensified patrols to meet quotas for factories producing presents ahead of Kim Jong Il’s Feb. 16 birthday.
“Hyesan residents can’t go a single day without fuel in this intense cold, so they risk arrest to bring back firewood. But that has prompted an even tougher crackdown from forest rangers,” a source in Ryanggang province told Daily NK recently.
According to the source, the crackdown stems from firewood delivery quotas assigned to ranger stations by the provincial bureau in charge of environmental conservation and management. The firewood is needed to fuel factories producing presents for the birthday of Kim Jong Il (Feb. 16), one of North Korea’s biggest public holidays.”
Mick Hartley 
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