North Korean authorities have issued
large-scale mobilization of storm troops to construction sites for the construction of a railway connecting Yankang Province’s Hyesan City and Samjiyon County.
The connection route is reportedly for the sole use of Kim Jong Un, which has
drawn considerable criticism from the public, local sources reported.
A groundbreaking ceremony to commemorate
the new route was held on June 4th in front of the Samjiyon Monument,
a source in Yangkang Province informed Daily NK on June 12th, adding that both
shock troops and regional residents were present at the event.
The railway construction and ceremony were both corroborated by another Daily NK source in the same province.
“The majority of shock troops nationwide,
including those in Yangkang Province, South Pyongan Province, the northern youth unit for railroad construction, and Pyongyang brigade, were mobilized,” she said. “The
ceremony touted the construction as a sacred project aimed at immortalizing the
leaders’ [Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il] accomplishments. “
What has drawn such a critical reaction,
however, is the fact that that residents are forbidden from using this route
for trade or travel, despite the fact that they are the ones putting in the
backbreaking work to see its completion, she explained, noting, “It was built only because of the
historical site and Kim Jong Un’s special resort.” This is all the more preposterous when one considers that the total distance between Hyesan and Samjiyon is a mere 70km.
Samjiyon has long been a popular respite
location for the Kim family; Kim Jong Il used to frequent the area for its
clean air and suitability as a vacation spot. His son followed suit
roughly the year before last, according to the source.
“The Marshal’s (Kim Jong Un) personal train
was not able to pass through last year due to the decrepit state of the railroad, so he took a car instead.” she explained, adding that the perceived danger
presented by car travel spurred on the recent directive. Further fueling the urgency of
the project, she added, was Kim Jong Un’s visit to Mt. Baekdu, which lies near
Samjiyon, last year.
The derelict conditions of provincial roads
in North Korea exacerbated by unpredictable, severe weather patterns can make car travel
difficult. Train travel, complete with additional cars filled with security agents to protect the leader from potential attacks, also offers more space and comfort, with a host of
amenities at the leader’s disposal, despite the absurdly short distance, especially in the case of the Hyesan-Samjiyon route.
Meanwhile, this is hardly the first
instance of a member of the Kim family mandating the construction of a
personalized railway. According to the source, a railroad tens of kilometers
long, connecting the Kyungsung Station of North Hamkyung Province and Onpo
villa, and one connecting Shinchun Station of South Hwanghae Province and a
nearby resort were also built in early 2000s just for Kim Jong Il’s personal
train. Notably, this occurred during a time when food shortages were prohibitively severe, following
the widespread famine of the mid-1990s.
*The content of this article was broadcast to the North Korean people via Unification Media Group.
