opinion

2024 is a year to be specially recorded in the history of accomplishing the cause of regional rejuvenation.

In 1962, the Workers’ Party of Korea set forth the important task of further developing the regional industry and rural economy and markedly improving the local people’s standard of living by enhancing the role of the county. Over the past 60 years, the WPK steadily promoted regional development. Especially, in this year it set a new revolutionary regional development policy and has put spurs to its thorough implementation.

This policy, which is completely different from previous ones in terms of modernity and scale of regional development, thoroughness of implementation and power of execution, is being pushed ahead dynamically, highlighting different important occasions.

In his policy speech made at the 10th Session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK held in January this year, the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un set forth the Regional Development 20×10 Policy aimed at raising a step higher the basic material and cultural living standards of regional people throughout the country at an early date by powerfully stepping up the development of regional industry, apart from the line of rural rejuvenation.

The Regional Development 20×10 Policy is to build modern regional-industry factories in 20 cities and counties every year, so as to improve the basic material and cultural living standards of the people in all cities and counties all across the country within ten years.

This is another great change, which is totally different from those spoken only, a gigantic revolution to eliminate the centuries-old backwardness of the provinces, to fulfil the desire of the regional people and to make an innovation in the realm of the people’s cognition, constituting the first occasion in realizing the historic cause of regional rejuvenation.

Six months later, Kim Jong Un provided field guidance over the preparations for the construction of the Sinpho Offshore Culture Farm to provide an epochal milestone for the development of the Korean-style regional economy

A consultative meeting held on the spot under the guidance of General Secretary Kim Jong Un specified practical tasks to be tackled by senior city and county officials, including the issue of making a comprehensive survey of the natural and geographical features and economic potentials of their areas and conducting an in-depth study and organizational work to make the most of them, the issue of perfecting legal and institutional mechanisms so that the preferential measures for the development of the regional economy could prove effective, and the issue of directing efforts to training core technicians and skilled workers in cities and counties, and took relevant measures.

The consultative meeting concerning regional economic development held on the seashore in the city of Sinpho marked another important occasion in developing the Korean-style regional economy.

In August, Kim Jong Un gave field guidance at different construction sites of regional-industry factories and stressed the need to put into practice the Party’s Regional Development 20×10 Policy for bringing about a marked change in the development of the regional economy and the improvement of the people’s living standards. In this regard, he set forth a new direction for accelerating the historic cause of regional rejuvenation by carrying on the building of the regional-industry factories simultaneously with the construction of public health facilities, sci-tech dissemination bases and grain management facilities, and clarified the stand of the Party Central Committee on taking important measures to that end.

Since the construction forces have been formed and material supply and command systems have been established in a relatively well-regulated way as the construction of regional-industry factories has been carried out on a full scale throughout the country, it is the best choice in terms of time and profitability to simultaneously build modern hospitals, sci-tech dissemination bases and grain management facilities in each city and county, he noted. When the regional development policy becomes a comprehensive policy also covering public health, science and education, not confined to the building of light industry factories, it can truly contribute to improving the material and cultural standards of the regional people and dramatically boost the effectiveness of regional development.

With this as an occasion, the historic cause of regional rejuvenation came to pursue a higher goal.

The historic cause of regional changes and rejuvenation, which were visualized as only an ideal, is being stepped up with the passage of time under the leadership of General Secretary Kim Jong Un and the Korean people are convinced of the victorious cause.