It's no doubt that the greatest privilege for North Koreans is to become citizens of the capital, Pyongyang, which offers cultural facilities incomparable with those of provincial cities as well as freedom of travel. But Pyongyang citizens have to fulfill a number of duties assigned to them.

Most foreigners and South Koreans who have been to Pyongyang are unanimous in admiring the capital's cleanliness and beauty. One may ascribe it to relatively smaller quantity of garbage produced in Pyongyang than in Seoul, but hidden behind it are pathetically sincere efforts made by Pyongyang citizens.

They conduct citywide cleaning campaigns in Pyongyang at least four times a year; on February 16 (Kim Jong Il's birthday), April 15 (Kim Il Sung's birthday), September 9 (the Republic's foundation anniversary) and October 10 (the party's inauguration anniversary.) On these days the streets must be kept very tidy and clean even when no international events are held simultaneously. When an international event or a visit by a large group of South Koreans is scheduled, a city cleaning campaign starts a few months in advance.

Cleaning areas are assigned to neighborhood teams, and members of all households are mobilized for the campaign. Even family members of the privileged like central party officials or State Security Agency staffers cannot excuse themselves from the cleaning campaign; rather they are more enthusiastic than ordinary citizens. Neighborhood team leaders knock on the door of their neighbors at 5:00am to collect people. People thus assembled, some with still sleepy eyes, sweep and wash not only their nearby alleys but streets assigned to them for cleaning.

Decoration blocs and roadside trees are painted with lime, and the railings of Taedong and Okryu Bridges, the most typical bridges of the capital, are wiped with wet mops. When a mammoth march or mass calisthenics is held, citizens living in the center of the capital are all mobilized to sweep, scrub and wash the pavement of the Kim Il Sung Plaza. On the eve of a major event, Pyongyang streets get literally dustless.

Difficult as it is to labor in the dawn hours, the participating citizens harbor the pride of cleaning their own neighborhood and districts. Working together for hours, they get better acquainted with and understand one another.

At 7:00am office workers leave work sites to go to the office, leaving behind housewives and old retired men for continuous cleaning lasting a few more hours. The citizens are mobilized for cleaning for months when a major event takes place.

Householders whose family members often miss cleaning assignments are reported to their work places and subject to public self-criticism under the supervision of the party committee, and some are deprived of preferential treatments accorded Pyongyang citizens. If assignments are evaded repeatedly, one is liable to be accused of disloyalty to the party and banished from the capital. Consequently, few citizens, however fearless they may be, can afford to neglect the cleaning assignments.

Students, while undergoing training for mass calisthenics, are forced to suspend study for months. Even office workers have to take part in roadside welcoming and other activities whenever a major event is held. Roadside welcoming is not confined to one specific day only because several rehearsals have to be done in advance. Consequently, their office work is hindered. Hence some even wonder if Pyongyang citizens only exist for the sake of participating in events, political or otherwise.

Also troublesome for Pyongyang citizens is to learn by heart recommended answers to questions foreigners may ask them abruptly. Compared with their provincial counterparts, Pyongyang citizens cannot afford to make utterances as they please and have to behave with prudence.

(Kang Chol Hwan, nkch@chosun.com )