North Korea's Rising Food Production and the NK Insights Column Responsibility System

The official organ of the Korean Workers' Party, Rodong Sinmun, reported on the 20th that "a great transformation is occurring in the orientation of the nation's agricultural production in the new era of rural revitalization opened up by the great Korean Workers' Party, and the material and technical foundations guaranteeing sustained and stable growth are being further consolidated."

Ch'usŏk is a representative folk holiday on which people express gratitude for a bountiful harvest through ancestral memorial rites (charye). North Korea, too, emphasizes that "our people have, since ancient times, observed Ch'usŏk as a holiday for enjoying the joy of a good harvest and expressing devotion to departed ancestors," designating the tending of ancestral graves as the primary ritual of the Ch'usŏk holiday.

Once Ch'usŏk has passed, the autumn harvest winds down across the northern countryside, followed immediately by the 'settlement distribution' (kyŏlsan punbae, 결산 분배) — an annual accounting of the year's agricultural work and distribution of the harvest to cooperative farm workers. Settlement distribution is carried out in both kind (in-kind produce) and cash (state procurement payments).

Coverage of settlement distribution ceremonies, which had virtually disappeared from North Korean state media during the worst years of economic hardship in the 1990s, began to be reported again on a large scale two years ago. This appears to reflect the fact that North Korea's food production has continued to rise over the past several years. Although no official announcement has been made by North Korea and assessments vary by institution, it is highly probable that North Korea will achieve a third consecutive bumper harvest this year.

The factor most frequently cited in connection with North Korea's increased food production has been the implementation of the Pojŏn Responsibility System (포전담당책임제, P'ojŏn Tangtang Ch'aegimje). The Pojŏn Responsibility System is a system under which, within the existing sub-work-team management system (분조관리제, Punjomgwanliche) — previously operated in units of 10 to 15 people — individual farmers or groups of 3 to 5 people are assigned responsibility for cultivating a fixed area of agricultural land (pojŏn). A degree of autonomy is granted in both production and distribution: of the total grain harvest, after deducting the fixed quota required by the state, the remainder is distributed to agricultural workers in proportion to their labor performance, in the form of both in-kind produce and cash.

In the early period of the Pojŏn Responsibility System's implementation, North Korea proclaimed that a large number of high-yield farmers were emerging in competitive fashion, resulting in significantly increased food production. Over time, however, a tendency emerged to re-emphasize the conventional sub-work-team management system over the Pojŏn Responsibility System. In December 2023, South Korea's Ministry of Unification assessed that "as North Korea revised its 'Agricultural Farm Law' (농장법), it again emphasized the sub-work-team management system and has been applying the Pojŏn Responsibility System with greater flexibility." This is not to say, however, that the Pojŏn Responsibility System was quietly abandoned, as some media reports suggested — for since the 8th Party Congress of the Korean Workers' Party in 2021, North Korean state media has once again emphasized the normalization of the Pojŏn Responsibility System.

What, then, is the reason the Pojŏn Responsibility System — which demonstrated measurable effects in its early phase — failed to become firmly established on North Korea's collective farms? Articles on agricultural policy recently obtained from Kŭlloja (근로자, Workers'), the Korean Workers' Party's monthly political theory journal, identify two principal factors as chronic problems noted since the outset: 'egalitarian distribution' (평균주의, p'yŏnggyunjuŭi), and the failure to honor the distribution ratios promised by the state.

Although articles published in Kŭlloja are primarily focused on promoting Party policy and practical experience — and thus concentrate largely on success cases — they also describe problematic tendencies and factors behind failures with relative candor, making them useful for understanding the actual current state of the Pojŏn Responsibility System.

◆ Factor I: Chronic Egalitarianism (P'yŏnggyunjuŭi) in Distribution

The factor most frequently cited as responsible for the Pojŏn Responsibility System's failure to take root is 'egalitarianism' (평균주의, p'yŏnggyunjuŭi). In an article titled "The Mobilization of Agricultural Workers' Mental Strength Is the Achievement of Grain Production," published in Kŭlloja, Issue No. 2, 2025, Han Nam-ch'ŏl, Responsible Secretary of the Sinch'ŏn County Party Committee of the Korean Workers' Party, makes the following observation:

Han Nam-ch'ŏl, Responsible Secretary, Sinch'ŏn County Party Committee

(KWP Sinch'ŏn County Party Committee, Kŭlloja, Issue No. 2, 2025)

"In certain farms during earlier periods, because agricultural yields differed from one work team and sub-work-team to another, a tendency emerged to apply egalitarianism in distribution. Egalitarianism in distribution resulted in a reduction of the masses' motivation to produce. In order to eliminate this tendency, the County Party Committee of [Sinch'ŏn] provided Party guidance to ensure that in-kind and cash distributions were made accurately in proportion to what [each farm worker] worked and earned — including ensuring that accurate in-kind and cash distributions were allotted to every farm worker immediately upon the completion of [state] procurement. Furthermore, Chŏnsŏng Cards were provided to every farm-worker household in the county so that farm workers could receive their cash distributions directly."

Although Secretary Han referred to "certain farms during earlier periods" in this passage, it in fact demonstrates that 'egalitarianism' continues to manifest in North Korean collective farms to this day. He emphasized that "what agricultural workers most urgently desire at this time is the thorough realization of the socialist distribution principle."

The 2002 'Socialist Economic Management Improvement Measures' (사회주의경제관리개선조치) had stipulated the elimination of egalitarianism in distribution and the principle of distribution in accordance with work performed; and when introducing the Pojŏn Responsibility System, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission Kim Jong Un likewise emphasized that "egalitarianism has nothing to do with the socialist distribution principle and has a harmful effect of undermining farm workers' motivation to produce" — and yet egalitarian distribution has remained pervasive.

The official organ of the Korean Workers' Party, Rodong Sinmun, reported on the 3rd that "the ideological offensive of the Yŏnan County Party Committee, which aims to accomplish the farm work successfully and thereby to bring glory to this year — the year of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Party — is being intensified day by day."

Why has egalitarianism persisted unchanged for more than twenty years? The answer is to be found in an article by Kim Sŏn-il, Responsible Secretary of the Koksŏng County Party Committee, published in Kŭlloja, Issue No. 1, 2025:

Kim Sŏn-il, Responsible Secretary, Koksŏng County Party Committee

(KWP Koksŏng County Party Committee, Kŭlloja, Issue No. 1, 2025)

"The evaluation process is not a simple administrative task but an important political task. A fair evaluation ignites the enthusiasm of the masses, while an unfair one pours cold water on it. Allocating to farm workers in proportion to what they worked and earned is an important requirement of the socialist distribution principle. However, during earlier periods in the county, a tendency emerged to apply egalitarianism in distribution in the name of fulfilling the production plan, and as a result, farm workers' production enthusiasm was repeatedly diminished."

In other words, because priority was given to meeting the state's production plans, farm workers were not individually evaluated for the labor they contributed but were instead distributed equally. The practical meaning is that rather than accurately evaluating each worker's 'joint-work days' (공동작업 일수, days worked collectively within a sub-work-team) and 'assigned-field management days' (담당포전관리일수, days worked on their individually assigned plot) separately and applying differential distribution accordingly, average distribution was applied. When a farm worker who invested personal funds to apply additional fertilizer to their assigned plot and thereby achieved a high yield received the same distribution as a worker who passively performed only the tasks assigned by the work team or sub-work-team, labor motivation inevitably diminished over time.

◆ Factor II: Non-Fulfillment of State-Promised Distribution Ratios

The second factor cited is the failure to honor the promise that the state would procure 30 percent of the harvest and distribute the remainder to the farm and its workers. The original intent of the Pojŏn Responsibility System — to guarantee greater individual returns commensurate with greater effort — has not been properly reflected in reality. Kim Jŏng-ch'ŏl, Responsible Secretary of the Tŏkch'ŏn City Party Committee, frankly acknowledged this in an article titled "The Link Grasped by the City Party Committee in Implementing the Party's Agricultural Policy," published in Kŭlloja, Issue No. 4, 2024:

Kim Jŏng-ch'ŏl, Responsible Secretary, Tŏkch'ŏn City Party Committee (KWP Tŏkch'ŏn City Party Committee, Kŭlloja, Issue No. 4, 2024)

"Although the directive to implement the Pojŏn Responsibility System has been emphasized at the Party level for a long time, one important reason it has failed to produce substantive results in agricultural production is that our cadres did not properly honor the promises they made to farm workers. In truth, it was by no means coincidental that among farm workers, some turned their backs on this system [the Pojŏn Responsibility System] or participated only passively."

Secretary Kim reported that in order to resolve farm workers' distrust, responsible cadres of the County Party went "personally to each and every farm in [Tŏkch'ŏn] City without exception, gathered farm workers together, and — while emphasizing that once the procurement plan was fulfilled from the assigned plots, the entire remainder would be distributed — formally declared before the farm workers that should any violation of this occur, the City Party Committee would bear full and complete responsibility." Detailed implementation regulations for the Pojŏn Responsibility System were also newly drafted, and the phone numbers of County Party cadres were distributed to all farm workers so that they could raise grievances or difficulties.

Following this process of persuasion, Secretary Kim assessed that "the enthusiasm of farm workers — who had previously given almost no attention to scientific farming and merely performed whatever tasks the work-team leader assigned — visibly increased." As a representative example, he cited the fact that "in order to increase the yield from their assigned plots, farm workers applied fertilizer to their fields, sourced from savings from their own households, amounting in city-wide terms to tens of tonnes, and plastic sheeting amounting to tens of thousands of square meters."

◆ Additional Obstructing Factors and Ongoing Remediation Efforts

Beyond these two principal factors, numerous additional factors obstruct the consolidation of the Pojŏn Responsibility System, including the need to rationalize state procurement prices and the intensification of controls on food distribution (market sales) by farms and farm workers. Nevertheless, it appears that North Korean authorities continue to make efforts to correct the trial-and-error encountered in implementing the Pojŏn Responsibility System, to draft 'detailed implementation regulations' (시행세칙) for individual farms, and to put the system into practice in accordance with its original intent. In concrete terms, North Korea has introduced a method of crediting Chŏnsŏng Cards instead of disbursing cash for cash distributions in settlement distribution, and has enacted the 'Agricultural Farm Settlement Distribution Law' (농장결산분배법) at the level of the Supreme People's Assembly, representing diverse efforts to consolidate the Pojŏn Responsibility System.

The Chŏnsŏng Card is a rechargeable debit card launched by the Central Bank of Korea (Chosŏn Chungang Ŭnhaeng) in 2015. The Agricultural Farm Settlement Distribution Law, passed on August 30, sets as its objective "the rational conduct of the evaluation of [farm workers'] labor-days (노력일) and the settlement and distribution thereof, in order to strengthen the material and technical foundations of farms and to enhance farm workers' motivation to produce."

The official organ of the Korean Workers' Party, Rodong Sinmun, reported on the 29th that "the agricultural workers of Changgyo-ri, Kangnam County, have again, as in the previous year, celebrated the joy of moving into new homes," stating that "a new-home entry celebration took place at the site on the 28th."

◆ Assessment: Systemic Limitations and Persistent Challenges

Among specialists on North Korea, 'distribution according to performance' is cited as one of the core factors driving growth in North Korea's agricultural sector since the onset of the Kim Jong Un system — and the Pojŏn Responsibility System stands at the center of this. Nevertheless, even after ten years of implementation, it appears that numerous issues remain to be resolved before a Pojŏn Responsibility System that guarantees real income increases for farm workers can be firmly established. Some scholars argue that unless the Pojŏn Responsibility System is effectively converted into genuine individual farming, it is inherently bound to face fundamental limitations.

North Korea is identifying model farms and promoting them, while also making efforts to minimize discontent among participating farm workers by actively incorporating farmers' preferences in the allocation of plots and by introducing the 'field rotation system' (포전순환제, P'ojŏn Sunhwanje) — a system whereby, when a member's assigned plot is located on hilly terrain or yields low returns, the assigned plot is rotated annually within the sub-work-team. Adjustments have also been made in favor of farmers, such as reducing the state's share of the total harvest from 70 to 60 percent.

However, North Korean authorities continue to operate under the collectivist premise that "the interests of the unit exist within the interests of the state," and maintain strong controls over the market distribution of food distributed in kind. As a result, it remains unclear whether the expansion of the Pojŏn Responsibility System — even if it contributes to increasing overall food production — will translate into actual income growth for individual farm workers.

NOTES & SOURCE REFERENCES

[1] Han Nam-ch'ŏl (한남철), Responsible Secretary, Sinch'ŏn County Party Committee, KWP. "Agricultural Workers' Mobilization of Mental Strength Is the Achievement of Grain Production" (농업근로자들의 정신력발동이자 알곡생산성과이다). Kŭlloja (근로자), Issue No. 2, 2025. [Primary Source: DPRK]

[2] Kim Sŏn-il (김선일), Responsible Secretary, Koksŏng County Party Committee, KWP. [Untitled agricultural policy article]. Kŭlloja (근로자), Issue No. 1, 2025. [Primary Source: DPRK]

[3] Kim Jŏng-ch'ŏl (김정철), Responsible Secretary, Tŏkch'ŏn City Party Committee, KWP. "The Link Grasped by the City Party Committee in Implementing the Party's Agricultural Policy" (당의 농업정책관철에서 시당위원회가 틀어쥔 고리). Kŭlloja (근로자), Issue No. 4, 2024. [Primary Source: DPRK]

[4] Ministry of Unification, Republic of Korea. Assessment of North Korea's revision of the Agricultural Farm Law (농장법) and re-emphasis of the sub-work-team management system. Official statement, December 2023.

[5] Chŏnsŏng Card (전성카드): A rechargeable debit card issued by the Central Bank of Korea (Chosŏn Chungang Ŭnhaeng) in 2015. Used for distributing cash allocations to cooperative farm workers in the DPRK.

[6] Agricultural Farm Settlement Distribution Law (농장결산분배법): Enacted by the Supreme People's Assembly (최고인민회의) of the DPRK on August 30. Objective: rational evaluation of farm workers' labor-days and settlement/distribution thereof, to strengthen farms' material and technical foundations and enhance farm workers' motivation to produce.

[7] Pojŏn Responsibility System (포전담당책임제, P'ojŏn Tangtang Ch'aegimje): System first introduced under Kim Jong Un's administration in which individual farmers or groups of 3–5 persons assume responsibility for cultivating a fixed agricultural plot (pojŏn), with distribution of remaining harvest (after state procurement) allocated in proportion to individual labor performance.

[8] Field Rotation System (포전순환제, P'ojŏn Sunhwanje): A system introduced under the Pojŏn Responsibility System whereby, when a farm worker's assigned plot is located on hilly terrain or yields low returns, the assigned plot is rotated annually within the sub-work-team (분조) to ensure equitable distribution of land quality over time.

GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS

KEY TERMINOLOGY
포전담당책임제	Pojŏn Responsibility System	System assigning fixed agricultural plots to individuals or small groups (3–5) for independent cultivation, with post-procurement surplus distributed according to labor performance.
분조관리제	Sub-Work-Team Management System	The conventional collective farm production unit of 10–15 workers. Preceded and partially replaced by the Pojŏn Responsibility System.
포전 (圃田)	Pojŏn	An agricultural field or plot planted with grain or other crops; the basic land unit of the Pojŏn Responsibility System.
평균주의	P'yŏnggyunjuŭi (Egalitarianism)	The practice of distributing harvest equally among workers regardless of individual performance — formally prohibited under DPRK agricultural policy but persistently observed in practice.
결산 분배	Settlement Distribution (Kyŏlsan Punbae)	Annual accounting and distribution of the harvest to collective farm workers upon completion of state procurement, conducted in both in-kind produce and cash.
노력일	Labor-Day (Norŏkil)	The standard unit of agricultural labor measurement used to evaluate individual farm workers' contributions and calculate differential distribution.
근로자	Kŭlloja	Workers'; monthly theoretical and political journal of the Korean Workers' Party. Primary source cited throughout this article.
전성카드	Chŏnsŏng Card	Rechargeable debit card issued by the DPRK Central Bank in 2015; used for electronic distribution of farm workers' cash allocations.
수매	Sumaе (State Procurement)	Compulsory state purchase of a fixed quota of the harvest at state-set prices, prior to any distribution to the farm or farm workers.
포전순환제	Field Rotation System	System rotating farm workers' assigned plots annually within the sub-work-team to equalize access to high- and low-yield land.

About the Author

Jung Chang-hyun  |  Director, Peace Economy Research Institute

Historian and journalist. Graduated from the Department of Korean History, Seoul National University; completed doctoral coursework at the same institution. Currently Director of the Peace Economy Research Institute. Has pursued research, writing, and journalistic activities in the fields of inter-Korean relations and modern North Korean history for nearly 30 years. Works cited in this article were obtained from the KWP theoretical journal Kŭlloja (근로자) and represent primary-source analysis.