The Daily NK contains two articles, based on reporting from contacts in North Korea, that describe the living and food availability conditions during the national mobilization exercises in progress.They confirm that a partial mobilization of manpower has occurred since 11 March, unlike any in a long time. The only work teams still functioning are those devoted to goods for the armed forces. Production teams that make goods for civilians are participating in or are supporting the training.
Food allocations are based on production output by workers. Closure of a production line for military training terminates food allocations for the workers on that line. Mobilized workers are fed by the army but their families at home must fend for themselves or receive special allocations from the government or pilfered food from the army.
The contacts in North Korea report serious food shortages among the families of the mobilized workers, some of whom have threatened protests. In one major city on the China border, the government made a special allocation to avert a riot.
There are many hardships to living in North Korea, but food shortage is a category of hardship that has prompted public riots in the past that required troops to suppress. Government action to avert them by limited food allocations is an indication of the gravity of the internal situation. The leadership cannot afford to divert military resources to riot control when it is risking general war.
What the reports confirm is that the exercise is a high cost activity because no civilian trade goods are being produced and food is dedicated to the military first. The economic and social costs described in the articles indicate the exercise is more than just training. It is rehearsal and preparation for an action that risks a wider conflict.