After North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the Sohae Satellite Launching Station (in Tongchang Village, Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province) in mid-March and ordered the station modernized and expanded, local residents have been mobilized to work on several bustling construction projects, Daily NK has learned.
“After Kim Jong Un carried out field guidance at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Tongchang Village, residents not only of Cholsan County but also of nearby counties have been mobilized to improve the surroundings of Road No. 1, which enters Cholsan County,” a source in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Monday.
Following Kim’s on-the-spot guidance, the party committee for North Pyongan Province drew up a plan to thoroughly implement Kim’s instructions, the source said. As part of that plan, the committee ordered area residents to work on repairing and beautifying the areas around Road No. 1.
According to the source, the provincial party committee has instructed the committee’s second secretary to personally take responsibility for repairing and beautifying all roads and buildings within a 10 kilometer radius of the Sohae Satellite Launching Station.
As a result, the provincial branch of the North Korean women’s league has reportedly been assigned quotas in the repair and beautification work.
“The work on Road No. 1 began on Apr. 2 with weeding the area around the road and scraping up the sand that has long been allowed to accumulate on the road. The women of Cholsan County are being sent to work from the early evening until midnight,” the source said.
Residents of other counties, including Kusong County and Chongju County, are also helping out with beautifying the area around Road No. 1. They have to set out on foot in the early evening and do not arrive at the work site until late at night.
“The reason the residents are being asked to work on road repairs and beautification at night is because of their difficult living conditions. That gives them time to make a living in the markets during the daytime,” the source explained.
“A lot of families have so little to eat that they can’t join the road work. But since every work unit has been ordered to complete its quota, this isn’t a situation where anyone can be let off the hook. The heads of the people’s units insist that no one can be excused from this work since it was ordered by Kim Jong Un himself,” the source said.
Despite these circumstances, the source said, the provincial party committee has called for solid repair work on Road No. 1 to ensure the road is flawless and that no accidents occur there.
In addition to the road work, a secret military base in the area of the Sohae Satellite Launching Station is reportedly being repaired and expanded. Only factory workers and specialists are assigned to the work inside the base, while those who are not allowed inside are stuck on the beautification work on the outside of the base, the source said.
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