The Central Committee’s Munitions Industry Department recently commended personnel at several uranium enrichment facilities for achieving good results in their activities during the first half of the year, Daily NK has learned.
“The Munitions Industry Department held an enlarged plenary session in late June to review the results of the Eighth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee,” a Daily NK source in North Korea said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The department decided to award appreciation letters to personnel who received outstanding reviews for research and production of nuclear warheads in the first half of the year. The awards were given at commendation ceremonies, which were held on Saturday.”
The commendation ceremonies were held simultaneously at the Yonbyon nuclear complex and three or four other uranium enrichment facilities, according to the source.
The source told Daily NK that the Central Committee — after receiving the Munitions Industry Department’s report on the general results of its implementation of uranium enrichment plans during the Eighth Plenary Meeting — praised “the majority of uranium enrichment facilities for achieving their goals for the first half of the year in line with the party’s decision to exponentially increase the nation’s arsenal of nuclear warheads.”
The Central Committee ordered that individuals who helped to expand the country’s arsenal of nuclear warheads receive the highest of rewards, even as it strongly rebuked officials involved in the recent failed launch of a military reconnaissance satellite.
During the Sixth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee in December, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un elucidated his “epochal strategy of the development of nuclear force and national defence for 2023,” saying: “Now that the south Korean puppet forces who designated the DPRK as their ‘principal enemy’ and openly trumpet about ‘preparations for war’ have assumed our undoubted enemy, it highlights the importance and necessity of a mass-producing of tactical nuclear weapons and calls for an exponential increase of the country’s nuclear arsenal.”
One individual receives Hero of Labor award
The regime’s move to hand out commendations to nuclear facility personnel appears aimed at showing the workers that their activities are crucial and tied to the nation’s security. At the same time, the authorities appear to be trying to improve morale among the military munitions workforce to encourage good results in the second half of the year.
Following the Munitions Industry Department’s enlarged plenary session in late June, high-ranking cadres visited uranium enrichment facilities, including Yongbyon, to hand out the appreciation letters and award distinguished service commendations. One individual even received a Hero of Labor award, the source said.
“Thanks to the high marks they received from the Central Committee for the first half of the year’s results and an order from the Munitions Industry Department, personnel at nuclear warhead production bases took a three-day break from Saturday, the day of the commendation ceremony. They received a wide-range of provisions, too, so it really felt like it was a holiday.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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