North Korea recently ordered steel plants nationwide to “normalize” production, Daily NK has learned.
According to a Daily NK source in Yanggang Province on Monday, North Korean authorities handed down an order on Oct. 1 for steel mills to “restart all currently inoperative smelters and normalize steel production.”
In response to the order, the party committee of Yanggang Province instructed Hyesan Steel Mill to restart its smelters “by the end of the month,” the source said.
In fact, the party committee reportedly threatened managers at the mill with expulsion from the Workers’ Party and dismissal from their positions for failing to execute party policy in a timely manner should they fail to get the plant’s smelters operating normally by the deadline.
Hyesan Steel Mill began efforts to restart its smelters from Oct. 3, but the source said it might take a bit of time before the smelters can be fully restored due to equipment and supply problems.
Workers at the mill are putting most of their efforts into restoring Smelting Furnace No. 1, a key piece of equipment for the creation of casts, which is a component in the production of steel products.
“Factory officials and workers are waging a day and night struggle, but it won’t be easy to restore the furnace that melts the raw material because it’s been shut down for a long time,” the source explained.
Nevertheless, with the provincial party committee threatening to review the loyalty, quality and skills of mill officials – in short, their ability or inability to get the inoperative smelters running normally by the prescribed date – the officials in question have been unable to leave work, watching over the site and working to restore the furnaces.
In fact, cadres from the provincial party committee who ordinarily showed little interest in the mill now visit it nearly every day, nagging workers to quickly get the smelter restarted and, in the process, sparking complaints from the staff.
“Even if you say you’re restarting the smelter, to normalize production, you need to ensure the supply of raw materials [for example, iron ore] for steel,” said the source. “That’ll continue to be a problem, whether they restore the furnaces or not.”
Meanwhile, the government’s order to normalize steel production by restarting inoperative furnaces is reportedly linked to efforts to ensure supplies to use in residential construction and other projects included in the country’s five-year plan for economic development.
However, among some North Koreans, word is going around that the order was hastily issued to ensure steel needed for the production of weaponry, the source said.
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