Kim Jong Un visited the flood-stricken city
of Rason to survey the extent of the damage there. He subsequently issued an
order to complete the reconstruction efforts before the 70th anniversary of the
Korean Workers’ Party on October 10th. To realize this goal, authorities have
been mobilizing masses of Rason residents to carry out the majority of the
difficult labor.
“Rason was total chaos last month after
suffering from a powerful flood, but after an intensive period of relief and
reconstruction efforts by the army and local residents, things are almost back
in working order,” a source in North Hamgyong Province reported to Daily NK on
September 21st.
“I am not sure exactly when, but sometime
last month, Kim Jong Un came down and ordered that things get cleaned up before
the anniversary of the Korean Workers’ Party. Shortly after receiving that
order, the local authorities rounded up all the city residents and oversaw a
mobilization effort to address the flood damages.”
An additional source in the same region
corroborated this story.
A substantial number of residents
participating in the mobilization efforts have been living in houses with
collapsed walls, he said. North Hamgyong Provincial Party cadres and Rason Municipal Party cadres have stayed overnight at the scene in order to deal with
the problem.
“It seems like the direct visit from the
General [Kim Jong Un] put everyone on edge. As a result, cadres have devoted
their energies into rejuvenating the damaged area,” he asserted.
According to the source, ever since Kim
Jong Un rose to power, there have been aggressive purges on cadres who were not
able to carry out Kim Jong Un’s orders. Knowing well the high stakes
highlighted Kim Jong Un’s personal visit to Rason, cadres in North Hamgyong
Province are focusing all their energies on the relief efforts and organizing
large scale mobilizations. Residents from poor areas have been forced to lend
their weary hands to the backbreaking effort.
“The restoration of collapsed homes,
bridges, and public facilities is being undertaken through sheer manpower. Due
to the effects of this arduous work, many residents’ hands are covered in
blisters. Some residents are using the break times during the mobilizations to
catch up on much needed sleep,” he said.
“Rason residents have been so busy between
work and mobilizations that they haven’t even had a chance to even think about
attending to their private plots. They’ll need to begin planting grains in the
early autumn in order to ensure they have enough food for winter.”
At an enlarged meeting of the Central
Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea on August 27th , Kim Jong Un
prioritized the restoration of flood damaged Rason as an important agenda item.
The Korean People’s Army [KPA] went in and the order was issued to finish
efforts there before the anniversary of the Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] next
month.
According to a September 18th report by
North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency [KCNA] KCNA, “Kim Jong Un could hardly
fall asleep, thinking of the citizens left without shelter due to flood damage
and he could feel relieved only after looking round the scenes of recovery
drive.”
*The content of this article was broadcast
to the North Korean people via Unification Media Group.
