 On April 20th, 2015, Rodong Sinmun covered Kim Jong Un’s visit to the construction site of the ‘Mt. Baekdu Songun Youth Power Plant.’ Image: Rodong Sinmun |
North Koreaโs Kim Jong Un has ordered a
legion of soldiers from the Korean Peopleโs Army to join in on construction to
push forward work on a gargantuan power plant in Yangkang Province. Known as
the โMt. Baekdu Songun Youth Power Plant,โ the project has already led to
scores of fatalities among workers, but the leader has seemingly ordered
soldiers on site to speed up progress, Daily NK has learned.
โRecently, a total of 40,000 to 50,000
soldiers have been put on this project,โ a source in Yangkang Province told
Daily NK on June 5th. โThis reflects Kim Jong Unโs desire to finish the construction
without question by the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Workersโ
Party.โ
However, many of the soldiers have no
direct role working on the plant itself–over half of them have been tasked
with flattening areas in the surrounding mountains. Post-razing, this space
will serve as the venue for a โmassive publicity event,โ according to the
source.
Both the mobilization of these soldiers and
their roles on the project were verified by another independent source within
Yangkang Province.
The hydroelectric power plant starts from
the upper tributary of Seodusu in Baekam County, Yangkang Province, and
construction for the three-dam hydropower plant first began in January 2002. Up
until now, the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League held the reins in
construction work.
Initially, the project was expected to take
ten years, but 13 years later, not even one of the three dams have seen full
completion, according to the source.
After seeing no progress on the project, Kim Jong Un called on the military to take charge of the project–a move the source described as “primitive,” pushing “droves of people to prod along massive state projects.”
โOrders to flatten the mountains around the
area show his underlying intentions to use it as a large event on the Partyโs
Founding Day,โ the source speculated. โJust like his father (Kim Jong Il), who
declared he would open the doors to build a strong and prosperous state in 2012
along with the construction of Huichon Power Station, he wants to use the Mt.
Baekdu power plant as his legacy.โ
If the power plant ever sees completion,
however, the source speculated that unstable ground will bring on a barrage of
operational issues. By the sourceโs assertion, Kim Jong Unโs strategy to
solidify his image as a leader with a firm grip on economic development, will
undoubtedly โfall flat on its face.โ
Just like previous large-scale construction
projects in North Korea, there is a high possibility that this construction
will also follow typical patterns of failure: massive promotion after
completion, followed by side effects of shoddy construction, negligence of the
facility, and a halt of propagating the project.
โShoddy work has been commonplace with
projects like these that the leader has set deadlines for,โ she asserted.
โWorkers on the ground know what the flaws are, but they canโt help but stand
by because theyโre scared of being purged.โ
Many are baffled that a leader who has underlined
the importance of studying the sciences could so flagrantly ignore the
basic principles of structural engineering, seemingly under the impression that
โbuilding a power plant is just like building an embankment in a small rural
town,โ the source concluded.
*The content of this article was broadcast to the North Korean people via Unification Media Group.
