Changchun, China — An inside North Korean source has revealed to the Daily NK that with two months to go before the completion of the “150-Day Battle,” each regional party organization in North Korea has been scrambling to find new coal deposits with which to reach production targets set by the authorities.
The source told on the 28th, “In Yangkang Province, a general meeting of the Provincial Committee of the Party was convened on the 18th to discuss developing the Baekam Coal Mine. Not just in Baekam; party provincial guidance units have also been dispatched to the Coal Exploration Bureau and the Coal Mine Development Office to seek out fresh coal in Woonheung and Kim Jong Suk Counties.”
According to state media propaganda, “In the 150-Day Battle, an unprecedented reform miracle is being created.” However, the local source explained that, in direct contrast to those claims, the actual production results have been low; the mine has not been able to achieve the economic goals proposed at the beginning of the year.
The source stated, “Peat, the current production from the Baekam Mine, is unsuitable for heating residential homes, so it has been put to use as fertilizer in the nearby farms instead. Efforts to find new coal seams are ongoing.
He explained, “In Yangkang Province, the Provincial Committee of the Party has been hands-on in trying to salvage both the Hyesan Coal Mine and the Masan Mining Area since the beginning of March. However, the exploration has failed to find any new deposits.”
With the coal reserves that North Korea has mined these last several decades almost running out, the country has been engaged in efforts to find new seams. The economic feasibility of existing mines and seams is falling due to the need to lengthen existing tunnels, as well as deterioration of mining equipment and facilities, so the North has been forced to try and expand its reserves by discovering new coal.
In this year’s New Year’s Statement, the North ordered, “We must bring forth the strength to support the primary industries. We must secure the smooth production of the amount of coal necessary for economic development and the citizens’ lives by increasing investment in coal-related industries and prioritizing exploration.”
Moreover, Kim Jong Il himself, since the beginning of the year, has visited the Ranam Mining Complex, Anju-district Mining Complex and Geumduk-district Mining Complex in North Hamkyung Province, and has expressed a deep interest in coal exploration. He even issued a special order at the time of the field visits, saying, “The ministries, including the Cabinet and central organizations, should actively encourage and support exploration projects.”
The source emphasized, “The coal issue, regardless of the 150-Day Battle, is one directly related to the citizens’ heating needs in the winter. If the presence or absence of food seriously influenced civilian sentiment during the March of Tribulation, then the situation has reached a point now where winter firewood is about to have a similar effect.”
Enterprises that received logging permits under the amended Forest Protection Law in March also received a decree ordering them to retrieve all of the small branches and twigs from the cut trees and send them to schools in the nearby regions as firewood.
In North Korea, heating fuel problems have been an issue since the exhaustion of coal reserves in Anju-district, the main coal exploration region in the country, in the late 1980s. In particular, due to electricity shortages during the “March of Tribulation,” remaining mines couldn’t be pumped out, so all were submerged, resulting in a vicious circle of electricity shortages and heating problems.
