North Korea’s Ministry of State Security has issued an order to its local branches to determine the opinions of city and county people’s committeeNorth Korean people's committees are akin to local governmen... More officials and the general public on the “20×10 regional development policy,” Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a Daily NK source in North Korea said Monday that the Ministry of State Security issued an order to its city and county branches late last month, asking them to “determine the views and attitudes of local working-level officials on the regional development 20×10 policy, as well as the comments of the public on the policy. The local ministry branches were told to report their findings by Apr. 9.”
The source said this was the first time the ministry had ordered local branches to report on people’s opinions about an official policy.
The ministry’s city and county branches, which are usually tasked with determining the ideological leanings of locals, also found the order asking them to gauge opinions on an official policy unusual, the source said.
“The local ministry branches think the order is so that the central government can listen to voices on the ground that reflect how working-level officials and the general public really think, so that it can formulate responses rather than ideological supervision to blame or punish people,” he explained.
This suggests that the government wants to reflect local opinion as much as possible as it promotes the 20×10 regional development policy, not ferret out officials or people unhappy with the policy.
The source said the order “shows how important the central government considers the regional development policy. But local people are nervous just knowing that the Ministry of State Security is listening.”
“People’s committeeNorth Korean people's committees are akin to local governmen... More officials have no choice but to implement the policy aggressively, simply because the Ministry of State Security and its local branches are watching how they implement the policy,” the source said. In other words, the actions of the local branches of the Ministry of State Security encourage enthusiasm and spontaneity in the agencies implementing the policy.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un first unveiled the 20×10 regional development policy during a policy speech at the 10th Plenary Session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly in January. The policy calls for the construction of modern factories in 20 counties each year for 10 years to raise the basic material standards of provincial residents.
Starting with the groundbreaking ceremony for a factory in Songchon County at the end of February, work on factories in Kusong, Unsan County, Kujang County, Sukchon County, Yontan County, Unpa County, Jaeryong County, Unchon County, Usi County, Tongsin County, Kosan County, Ichon County, Kyongsong County, Orang County, Kumya County, Hamju County, Kimhyungjik County, Onchon County and Changpung County began on Mar. 10 this year.
While attending the groundbreaking ceremony of the factory in Sonchon County, the first under the new policy, Kim Jong Un emphasized the importance of the initiative, saying, “Everyone born in this country, whether in the capital or in the regions, in cities or in mountain villages, should lead a prosperous and civilized life under the socialist policy of the state, and it is the core of the new regional development policy to ensure that they do so.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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