North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has commanded every citizen to turn over an impossible 200 pounds of human manure a day for fertilizer in an effort to revitalize the communist country’s struggling agriculture, according to reports.
The country’s leader first made agriculture the forefront of the economic recovery during the New Year’s address.
This led to the mass mobilization of the population to fulfill the government’s wishes and ensure the human manure quotas are met. If the people don’t meet their daily quota, they have to supply over 600 pounds of compost or livestock manure, according to Radio Free Asia.
“The entire population has been mobilized to produce manure as the first major task of the year,” a source told the outlet. “The authorities in each local region task factories, institutions and citizens groups with assigning production quotas to each individual.”
“They are demanding that each person produce 100kg of human feces per day, or about 3 tons per month,” the person added. “But how on earth can it be possible for one person to make 3 tons of human feces and deliver it?”
“But how on earth can it be possible for one person to make 3 tons of human feces and deliver it?”
The absurdly-high quotas are forcing the people to either collect the human manure in cold or pay cash to others for the manure.
“Most people can’t [make or collect] 100kg per day, so they end up giving what they think is sufficient. The quota is therefore meaningless,” the source told the outlet.
“[The quotas] are the same in both the cities and the countryside because the quotas are applied to everyone evenly,” it added, noting that “When the city’s clothing and food factories are [operating at full capacity], workers will try all sorts of ways to fill the quota.”
Still, many see the latest measure as a mere way for the regime to collect money from already poverty-stricken people.
“Authorities are encouraging people to produce more manure, stressing that it provides a vital boost to the agricultural front, and thereby the socialist movement in general,” another source told the publication.
“People are angry, criticizing the regime for [deliberately setting quotas so high] to force people to pay cash, then claiming it’s for agricultural production,” it added. “Cash payments exceed the value of the manure that actually ends up being delivered, so people are saying the regime is just using the quota as a means to collect more money from the citizens.”
The communist country remains subjected to harsh sanctions over its nuclear weapons program. Following the historic summit between President Trump and Kim, there were speculations that some sanctions could be eased as a result – but the effort stalled amid North Korea’s unwillingness to make steps towards denuclearization.
The White House announced a second summit with Kim near the end of February, where Trump is expected to pressure Kim to make tangible steps towards denuclearization.
