North Korean workers are given 14-days of regular vacation a year, which is uniform, without being varied according to the number of years of uninterrupted service. But North Koreans don't take rest or travel while on leave; leave is used for attending ceremonial occasions or performing essential household tasks like firewood collection. The most common reason for asking leave of absence is attending weddings and funerals. As transportation means are hard to get and as at least two to three days are needed for traveling from the northern tip of North Hamgyong province to Pyongyang, the duration of regular leave is by no means long. If train services are stalled for some reasons, a frequent occurrence, a one-way trip of the same distance takes as long as a week.

In spring and autumn, city dwellers on leave are often seen making holed-briquettes with coal dust. It takes them several days to make enough briquettes to last six months or up to a year. In mountainous areas, the residents get leave of absence to collect firewood in late autumn or early winter when moisture is drained from trees. No few residents take advantage of leave to conduct commercial activities.

Wages are paid in full during regular leave. When workers opt for not taking their regular leaves, they are paid leave allowances in addition to their ordinary wages.

Compassionate leave is granted for making kimchi or pickled vegetables, which takes three to seven days depending on one's family circumstances. This reflects the importance North Koreans attach to preparing kimchi, which some call "food needed for half a year."

In the event special personal circumstances arise when workers have used up their regular leave, they may take extra leave depending on the reason. If and when leave extending 30 days or longer is taken because of illness or special personal circumstances, he or she is deprived of the regular 14-day leave. Workers engaged in difficult and dangerous work like welding may take a 45-day rest-and-recuperation leave a year. Such leave is confined to enfeebled or sick workers. Female workers enjoy maternity leave, the duration of which has been extended from 77 days to 150 days. While on maternity leave, they are paid allowances corresponding to 70% of their monthly wages.

To get away for the summer, workers sometimes visit mountain or seaside resorts as a unit of the workplace. They do so on a daily basis, taking advantage of the weekend or replacement holidays, not leave. Poor lodging facilities available render it difficult for them to stay overnight at resorts. Replacement holidays means taking rest on weekdays and working instead on Sundays or public holidays. Few family vacations are observed in the North.

(Kang Chol Hwan, nkch@chosun.com )