With manure, not missiles, ranking as “the first struggle” for the new year, said Daily NK, authorities were “essentially pressuring people” to qualify for a “manure pass” just as South Korean citizens need “quarantine passes” certifying they are vaccinated against COVID-19.

Quotas for producing manure range from 200 kilograms for each household t0 500 kilograms for everyone working in state factories, Daily NK reported, but people did get one break. Markets this month began opening an hour later in the afternoon, from 3 to 5 rather than 2 to 5, to give “an extra hour to produce manure.”

How people are to contribute so much manure in a country where animals are in short supply is not clear, but the term “homemade” comes up frequently in reports in the North Korean media heaping praise on efforts to spread enough manure ever since sanctions and COVID-19 began seriously cutting off supplies from China and South Korea in 2020.