Frequent fights are erupting between North Korea’s rural residents who illegally fell trees out of desperation to secure firewood for the winter and the forest rangers tasked with curbing such illegal activity. The forest rangers have ramped up their crackdowns this year, leaving rural residents who are urgently preparing for winter deeply unhappy. …In this circumstance, the current period—right before winter—is when forest rangers are most alert, the source said. In particular, because most people in rural communities use wood as fuel in the winter, forest rangers go into crisis mode when villagers head into the mountains to indiscriminately fell trees for firewood. …Ultimately, these tensions originate from structural problems. The conflict will continue unless the authorities provide a fundamental solution to winter fuel shortages. “As long as there’s no solution to the firewood problem, the tensions will inevitably continue.”