N Korea asks people to donate cash to state: report

Source says N Korea's attack on Yeonpyeong Island has also been used to encourage donations.

North Korea’s Workers’ Party is calling for cash payments directly from its people to reach its oft-stated goal of becoming a “strong and prosperous” country by 2012,a South Korean newspaper reported on Friday.

Citing a source in Seoul well informed on North Korea,the ‘JoongAng Daily’ reported the party’s bureau responsible for propaganda had been holding lectures in areas nationwide telling residents to make cash donations to the government.

“A strong and prosperous country should be made on our own and must come sooner,” is the main message of the lectures,the source told the daily. At the end of the lectures,cash is usually demanded from the audience,he said.

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The lecturers describe how people in other areas had donated generously to whip up a competitive spirit.

North Korea has launched a propaganda drive to achieve a “strong and prosperous nation” by 2012 the 100th birth anniversary of the country’s founder,the late Kim Il Sung.

The source also said North Korea’s artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island,a South Korean western border island,has also been used to encourage greater donations.

Lecturers told residents in North Hwanghae Province,for example,that people in another area had given money after being “deeply moved” by the military’s attack on the South Korean island,which killed two South Korean soldiers and as many civilians.

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“Ten thousand won is good,1 million won is also good,contribute of your own accord,” the source quoted one of the lecturers as saying. In Chongjin,those being encouraged to give money were not asked where the money came from.

The source said that there had been prior instances when the North Korean Government had collected money for specific projects,such as building power plants or constructing more houses in the capital Pyongyang.

However,the source said,this appeared to be a new form of collecting money through lectures given across the nation,according to the daily.