North Korea "Boys Preparing Multiple Rocket Launchers"... Kim Jong-un Regime Masking Child Exploitation

North Korea "Rocket Launchers Prepared by Boys Presented to the People's Army"
Good Deeds Campaign? Free Exploitation of Residents' Labor
"Forced Labor Disguised... Domestic and International Propaganda for Defense Power Justification"

North Korea has propagated that young boys prepared multiple rocket launchers as gifts for the military. This is interpreted as an attempt to package child labor exploitation as loyalty to the Party, while also asserting the necessity of strengthening national defense to safeguard the future generation.

According to the Korean Central News Agency on the 7th, an event presenting the multiple rocket launcher named 'Sonyeonho' prepared through the "Good Deed Campaign" by the Korean Children's Union was held the previous day in the front yard of the Mangyongdae Students' Palace in Pyongyang. The Workers' Party organ newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, also publicized that "students and children nationwide have prepared multiple rocket launchers to send to the People's Army."

The Korean Children's Union is an organization that students aged 7 to 14 are required to join, with an estimated membership of around 3.5 million. Founded on June 6, 1946, under the Youth League, it is also called the "Red Scarf Corps." This event is analyzed as a propaganda effort to justify the strengthening of self-defensive national defense, including nuclear weapons development, by putting the Korean Children's Union, symbolizing the "future generation," at the forefront. This aligns with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un bringing his daughter Ju-ae to major military sites starting with the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test launch in November last year.

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A point to note is the question of "how exactly did the boys prepare the multiple rocket launchers?" North Korean authorities explained that the Children's Union carried out the "Good Deed Campaign." On the surface, this appears to be voluntary labor or resource gathering such as collecting scrap to contribute to the national economy, but in reality, it is a system where the authorities exploit residents' labor without compensation.

The Good Deed Campaign originated in July 1950 during the Korean War when elementary school children proposed a "patriotic campaign to donate 'Sonyeonho' airplanes and tanks." It mobilizes not only children but also youth, women, and the elderly according to their respective organizations by age, occupation, and class. It has become a means to extract labor from the entire population.

Such activities reveal North Korea's self-contradictory stance. Although the Socialist Constitution and Socialist Labor Law strictly prohibit labor by "boys under 16," forced labor disguised as the Good Deed Campaign is carried out from elementary school age. A 40-something male defector, who requested anonymity, explained, "It's called the Good Deed Campaign, but it's truly exploitation," adding, "I remember going around collecting scrap or firewood as a group, and girls were made to gather wild greens in the mountains."

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The coercive nature is also evident as failure to meet targets set by the Party results in criticism during the weekly life summary meetings held once or twice per week by each organization. During these meetings, members read aloud teachings of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, conduct self-criticism, and then publicly criticize others by naming them. Choi Kyung-hee, head of the Sand Research Institute, said, "If someone is criticized during the life summary meeting, they become socially isolated like being bullied, and the level of criticism is quite aggressive, causing residents to feel fear."

In particular, Choi Kyung-hee analyzed that the Good Deed Campaign is an activity with political intent aimed at regime maintenance beyond mere labor exploitation. She said, "In North Korea, there is a story that during Kim Il Sung's anti-Japanese struggle, boys helped by making hand grenades," adding, "Mobilizing children for Party-level activities and having them prepare weapons like multiple rocket launchers is intended to instill that even children are 'members of the revolutionary ranks' and to publicize this domestically and internationally."

Meanwhile, Rodong Sinmun reported that "after the presentation meeting, the 'Sonyeonho' multiple rocket launchers departed toward the People's Army units," indicating the weapons were immediately deployed, but did not mention specific specifications of the rocket launchers. However, judging from photos released by North Korea, the type appears to be inferior to the "super-large multiple rocket launcher" presented by the military labor class to the 8th Central Committee's 6th plenary meeting of the Party last December. The rocket launcher revealed at that time was a "high-performance multiple rocket launcher" with a caliber increased up to 600 mm and incorporating short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) technology.