North Korea’s government recently issued an order to the provinces calling for industries currently concentrated in Pyongyang and major cities to be better dispersed throughout the country, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in North Pyongan Province said on Thursday that the non-permanent committee for promoting the 20 x 10 policy of regional development issued the order on Mar. 30, urging its North Pyongan Province branch to “make thorough preparations necessary to start production immediately once the regional industrial factories are completed.”
According to the source, the national committee said in the order that it wanted to “change the current status of the consumer goods industry, which is currently concentrated in Pyongyang and a few major cities,” and called for “plans to prepare for the transfer of factory processes and equipment from Pyongyang and major cities and the dispatch of technicians to selectively distribute industrial facilities nationwide.”
In essence, the committee issued a concrete directive to achieve the ultimate goal of balanced regional development by activating the regional economy and strengthening the economic independence of provincial regions. This appears to be preparatory work to ensure that the 20 regional factories to be built annually under North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s “20 x 10 regional development policy” actually engage in production.
“The national committee’s order emphasized that factory construction is not just about putting up buildings, but should lead to substantial productive activity,” the source said.
According to the order, the North Pyongan Province branch of the committee is currently carrying out planning and organizing activities aimed at maximizing production by investing local resources and personnel in accordance with the transformation of regional factories in Kusong, Kujang County, and Unsan County this year.
The source told Daily NK that the committee has ordered related departments and workplaces to independently provide security equipment and personnel from within the province so that production can begin as soon as the factories in the three jurisdictions are completed at the end of the year.
He said local people welcome the national plan “to achieve balanced development by expanding industrial activities long concentrated in Pyongyang and a few major cities to provincial towns.”
But he said some provincial residents remain skeptical. “Even if the number of jobs in the provinces increases and we get jobs in the factories, we won’t be able to feed our families on what we get from the state or the factories alone,” they say.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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