For whom are N. Koreans planting roses?

North Korean people are conducting a campaign to plant roses across Pyongyang, the communist state’s capital city, and they are even “waging a war” to get more roses, the U.S. Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported Tuesday.

“Unlike in the past, it is easy to find many roses in the streets. It seemed that people undergo hardships to grow the flowers,” one Chinese man told RFA, after winding up a tour to North Korea.

The Chinese tourist also said the rose-planting campaign comes after the issuance of an order by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who was reportedly impressed by roses in the streets of Beijing during his China visit in May.

North Korea has set the goal of becoming a strong country by 2012. To that end, the Pyongyang regime has recommended citizens to do their best by saying, “There are numerous things to do to make Pyongyang a world-class city.”

The atmosphere has led citizens living in Pyongyang to plant artificial flowers as well as real ones to decorate the streets. Moreover, because of the shortage of roses, people struggle to get more roses and even call janitors to look after their own flowers.

“It is hard for me to understand the situation,” said the Chinese man. “The North Korean leader commanded people to grow flowers, although they suffer from hunger. Keeping artificial flowers seemed really funny,” he added.