Early last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the expansion of a ski resort near Kanggye, Chagang Province, Daily NK has learned.

“Chagang Province authorities are mobilizing storm troopers [units put together on an adhoc basis to work on construction projects] to work on the expansion project,” a Changang Province-based source told Daily NK on Apr. 8.

A RESPONSE TO DISCONTENT?

Chagang Province boasts several munitions factories, which are disguised to look like general purpose manufacturing sites. These factories include the Kanggye Tractor Factory, the Kanggye General Precision Machine Plant and the February 8 General Machine Factory.

All of the military munitions factories in the province are underground and the province’s residents face intense restrictions on their movement. Most local residents have little choice but to work in the munitions factories.

In recent years, however, the province’s elite and powerful have increasingly taken pains to prevent their children from working in these munitions factories. This is understandable given that working in these factories involves frequent contact with chemicals, reagents and other toxic substances.

“An estimated 70% of the work at these munitions factories is potentially harmful to the human body, so people try to get their kids deployed to other types of work as much as possible,” the source said. “Of course, this conflicts with the desire of local officials, who want workers to stay in the province and work in the factories.”

Sources speculated that Kim Jong Un’s recent order to expand the province’s ski resort may be the regime’s response to growing discontent in the area and to soothe the hearts and minds of the local population to encourage them to stay in the province.

BUILDING AN “IMPREGNABLE UTOPIA”

Kim’s recent order, however, is focused on modernizing the province’s cultural and entertainment sites rather than an attempt to improve the area’s medical infrastructure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Daily NK sources pointed out.

“The local party committee is stressing that the province must become an ‘impregnable utopia’ through the modernization of apartments, child-care facilities and the renovation of roads and bridges,” another source in the province said.

“There’s likely to be a lot of construction in the province ahead of the party’s founding anniversary on Oct. 10,” he added.

Sources also indicated that Chagang Province’s munitions factories are expected to be working at full capacity up until the founding anniversary as part of efforts to deploy “new strategic weapons,” a goal announced at the country’s Central Committee plenary session late last year.

*Translated by Violet Kim

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