After building new regional-industry factories in Kimhwa Count, Kangwon Province, in 2022, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is now powerfully pushing forward with the effort to develop regional industry.
The factories in Kimhwa County have clearly proved the possibility of regional industry development as well as their effectiveness and profitability through their operation.
What is worthy of note here is their rapid production growth.
In a matter of only two years after their completion, they increased their industrial output value by more than two times and the number of varieties of their products to 125 of 46 kinds.
The foodstuff factory increased the production to 50-odd varieties of more than ten kinds, and the garment factory increased the production by more than 1.2 times as compared with the previous year. Meanwhile, the paper mill overfulfilled its annual production plan at 114 percent and the daily necessities factory raised its production capacity by installing a new oil refining line and reinforcing the plastic pipe production line.
Another thing worthy of note is the improved quality of their products.
All their products are of so high quality that many people ask if they are really products of regional-industry factories. In addition, they are much welcome not only in the county itself but also in its neighbouring counties and other provinces, and are highly rated at national exhibitions.
This fans the competitive spirit among the producers, leading to further improvement of the standard of material and cultural life of the local people.
What is more important is the fact that all the factories are operated with locally available raw materials. Most of the foodstuffs and various kinds of light industrial goods like peppered bean paste with sesame, magnoliavine fruit juice and fruit jam of Actinidia arguta which are widely known as the specialities of the county are produced with raw materials available in the county.
To develop the production in a sustainable and stable manner, the people of the county have expanded the area of raw materials production bases more than 2.5 times and created hundreds of hectares of Korean evodia forests and a hundred hectares of woods for paper production.
In a nutshell, the regional-industry factories in Kimhwa County have developed into those relying on locally-available raw materials and the county into a developed one that retains its own inherent characteristics.
Having put forward the Regional Development 20×10 Policy which aims to build regional-industry factories, which will be as modern as those in Kimhwa County, in 20 counties every year and thereby in all cities and counties in ten years to come, the Workers’ Party of Korea and the government of the DPRK are forcefully pushing ahead with the work to implement it. A special emphasis in this work is put on creating more innovative things, instead of mechanically following and copying the experience gained in the county.
While giving field guidance at the regional-industry factories in Kimhwa County on February 7 this year, Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and President of the State Affairs of the DPRK, clarified important principles to be maintained and tasks to be done in improving the architectural styles and the level of modernization of the regional-industry factories to be built and ardently called for bringing about a great change in the regional development without fail.
