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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un conducts “on-the-spot guidance” ahead of the opening of Taesong Department Store in Pyongyang, as reported by Korean Central Television on Apr. 8. (Yonhap News)
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North Korean leader makes series of visits to construction sites, factories, and commercial outlets
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been focusing on the economy for days on end in his activities this month. Reaffirming Pyongyang’s policy focus on economic development in spite of the failure to produce an agreement at the North Korea-US summit in Hanoi, Kim’s activities are seen as a bid to send an external message of continuity in the pursuit of negotiations ahead of a South Korea-US summit scheduled for Washington on Apr. 14, as well as an internal message stressing a leadership style informed by “love for the North Korean people” ahead of the inaugural meeting on 14th Supreme People’s Assembly on Apr. 11 and the Day of the Sun (birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung) holiday on Apr. 15. The Rodong Sinmun, the official organ of North Korea’s ruling party, ran a story on the front page of its Apr. 8 edition about Kim performing “on-the-spot guidance” at Taesong Department Store in Pyongyang, which is about to open for business. Kim “expressed his immense satisfaction at the appearance of another shopping complex on the streets of the capital before the Day of the Sun [Apr. 15], a department store that will substantially contribute to qualitatively improving the people’s material and cultural lives,” the newspaper said. The Day of the Sun, which marks the birthday of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, is the most important holiday in the North. Gauging from reports in the Rodong Sinmun, this month Kim conducted on-the-spot guidance at construction sites and at a potato flour factory in Samjiyon County on Apr. 4 and the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area and the Hot Spring Tourist Area in Yangdok County, South Pyongan Province, on Apr. 6. Notably, this overlaps precisely with the locations of “focused on-the-spot guidance” that the Rodong Sinmun said Kim provided in Samjiyon County on Oct. 30, 2018, and at the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area and the Hot Spring Tourist Area in Yangdok County on Nov. 1. “Samjiyon and Wonsan are symbolic places that function as a thermometer for the strategy of economic development. They receive funding directly from the party, not from the cabinet or the provinces,” said Hong Min, director of the North Korea research office at the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU). One common aspect of the construction projects in Samjiyon, Wonsan, and Yangdok is that they are multipurpose resorts that are being developed with an eye to opening up to the outside world. That’s the political subtext of Kim’s site visits. During his recent tour of Wonsan, Kim delayed the deadline for completing construction until the “Day of the Sun next year [2020].” The original goal was to finish by the Day of the Sun this year, but during a visit on Aug. 17, 2018, Kim pushed the deadline back to Oct. 10 this year, which is Party Foundation Day. These delays presumably were in consideration of the deadlock in negotiations with the US. “The Yangdok region has natural and geological conditions that are well-suited for the construction of a ski resort,” Kim said, as he called for a “all-inclusive physical and cultural leisure spot where visitors can both soak in the hot springs and go skiing.” This expands the original plan, which was focused on hot springs tourism, into a resort combining hot springs and skiing, drawing upon North Korea’s experience running the Masikryong Ski Resort. Kim emphasized “the demands of the party’s commercial policy” at the Taesong Department and called for “the effective establishment of a management strategy” at Yangdok, echoing the “bottom line” mentality that is emphasized in his new economic policy. While urging workers to be “economical” in their use of materials, he also told officials to “cut down on meetings and head out to the work site.” By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer, and Noh Ji-won, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
