＜Inside N. Korea＞ Big reduction in the number of soldiers (Part 2): Forced deployment of discharged military personnel to rural areas and coal mines leads to greater dissatisfaction 2021.04.05 Am I supposed to work with a pickaxe for the rest of my life? The Kim Jong-un regime has decided to drastically reduce the number of its military soldiers after the 8 th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea held in January. The period of military service has been shortened from 13 years to 8 years for men and from 8 years to 5 years for women, and soldiers who have completed their military service have started to be discharged. We can assume that this is part of the "economic policy" of reallocating the labour force to the fields where the labour shortage is serious. However, dissatisfaction is erupting among the discharged soldiers. Our reporting partner living in the northern region investigated the real situation. (