North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently ordered two of the country’s shipbuilding facilities to construct a large number of container ships last month, Daily NK has learned.
“The order was handed down in mid-June and directed the Songrim Shipbuilding Facility [in Songrim, North Hwanghae Province] and the Nampo Ship Building Facility [in Nampo Special City] to construct a large number of container ships to be sent to ports throughout the country,” a source inside North Korea told Daily NK last Thursday.
Kim’s order reportedly said that the “shipping industry plays an important role in trade between third-world countries, including [those in] Southeast Asia, and European countries” and that “because our country is surrounded by water on three sides we must put a lot of effort into developing long-distance ship-based trade.”
The order further called for officials to “create the material and technological foundation to reinvigorate [North Korea’s] ports using [the country’s] potential strength, given that the world has lost its economic drive due to the spread of the contagious disease [COVID-19],” and noted that “we must build a large number of container ships to ensure the continuance of trade [with the outside world].”
The source told Daily NK that the order was aimed at having Cabinet ministries concerned with shipbuilding and ship-based trade to examine the potential issues that could occur in trade with “friendly countries” and to “overcome” the various issues that remain as obstacles to shipbuilding in the country.
The order further called on officials to follow the communist party’s efforts to “breakthrough” the country’s economic impasse by “strengthening trade and exchange with foreign countries.”
The order also included directives for the shipbuilding facilities to equip themselves with cranes and other equipment needed for ship construction and that the finished ships should be sent to the country’s largest ports, including Hungnam and Chongjin ports.
“The Songrim and Nampo shipbuilding facilities are in a flurry of activity to get the equipment they need,” the source said.
An undisclosed number of officials from the country’s Cabinet, along with scientists, have reportedly been organized into a “June 29 Storm Trooper Unit” and will soon be deployed to the shipbuilding facilities at Songrim and Nampo ports to presumably help jump start the shipbuilding efforts.
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