What Kim Jong-Il Wanted to Do With Them

Kim Jong-il understood perfectly the cliche that an absolutist regime needs absolute power. He couldn't tolerate people going off to gather their own food or buying rice with their own money. Telling people to solve the food problem on their own only increases the number of farmers, markets and peddlers. In addition, this creates egoism among the people and the base of the party's class may come to collapse. So he's trying to stop people from solving the problems themselves - which they have the capability to do.