The devastating effects of chronic power shortages in North Korea continue unchecked--most recently evidenced at the country's largest producer of iron ore, Musan Mine, where operations have ground to a halt. 

“This year’s power output from hydroelectric plants stands at less than half of last year’s,” a source based in North Hamkyung Province told the Daily NK in a phone conversation on Monday. “In the midst of this, they had kept Musan Mine partially running, but a few days ago it came to a full stop.”

With this year’s low rainfall, major power plants have been running intermittently, causing problems not only for residents but also in terms of major state industries.

“The little electricity that was being sent to the mine had to be rerouted to threshing machines on collective farms [for harvest threshing], and the result is that the production of iron ore at Musan stopped,” the source explained. “Kim Chaek Steel Mill and Songjin Steelworks, which both use iron ore, are facing major interruptions to iron and steel production.”

Musan Mine is North Korea’s largest iron ore producer. It sits on an estimated 3-billion tons, and churns out roughly 6.5 million tons or ore per year, part of which is supplied to Kim Chaek and Songjin for the production of iron and steel.

With the expansion of trade with China in the early 2000s, North Korea has also been sending thousands of tons of iron ore across the border to China through Chilsong Customs in Musan. The source speculated that if iron ore production, which accounts for a significant portion of trade between Pyongyang and Beijing, comes to a stop, it could spark an economic crisis.

North Korea’s inability to quickly resolve its power crisis has been compounded by China’s withdrawal from iron ore imports over price disputes; the source asserts that against this backdrop, iron ore production will remain shut down in the area for the foreseeable future.

He added that considering iron ore prices in the global market have been on a downward trend since 2011, it will not be easy to open up new export channels, making it difficult to predict when production will restart. Research from a local office of South Korea’s central bank indicates iron ore prices this year have been continually dropping, dipping as low as 82 USD per ton.

According to the source, the suspension at the mine has both state-run factory workers and families concerned. “What if the rations that we were barely receiving thanks to iron ore exports are cut off?” they've pointed out. “If the rations are cut off, mechanics working at the mine will want to go sell things in the market. In the case that the mine reopens [and they fail to return] it would bring further losses to the mine.”