North Korea has begun propaganda efforts to promote rapid development in provincial construction, encouraging people to learn from the builders of Kangdong County Hospital, who completed the facility in just nine months after construction began in February.
A source in Pyongyang told Daily NK recently that the ruling party’s propaganda department “immediately jumped into action after reports appeared of Kangdong County Hospital’s completion, coining the slogan, ‘Finish construction the same year you begin it,’ and issuing an order for intensive study entitled, ‘Let’s learn and meditate upon the revolutionary spirit of the builders of Kangdong County Hospital.’”
According to the source, the party’s propaganda department ordered the organization of intensive study sessions in Pyongyang between the afternoon of Nov. 21 — the day after reports of the hospital’s completion appeared — and the morning of Nov. 22 at the latest. It also designated the first week of December as a week for propaganda, agitation, and intensive study at all workplaces to learn from the spirit of the builders of Kangdong County Hospital.
In particular, during the intensive study period in the first week of December, the party’s propaganda department told all workplaces that completing construction in the same year it began would be the party’s policy implementation standard, emphasizing the slogan, “Korea’s guts, Korea’s speed.”
The department urged that all construction projects be completed within the year or by the start of next year so that they could be presented to the party as “reports of loyalty,” stressing that Kangdong County Hospital was completed in just 280 or so days.
Officials ordered to calculate deadlines and report personal responsibility
“It stressed that the basic work on construction projects begun this year should be tangibly completed within this year, and that officials must scientifically calculate the deadline for finishing construction by early next year and take charge of reporting it to the party,” the source said. “And it stressed that even after this, officials must race forward without even a second’s rest.”
The Propaganda and Agitation Department also ordered that party and state managing officials at all levels take personal responsibility for construction sites. It demanded that they make the projects part of their daily life by clearly determining and reporting who is taking charge of what, when and where.
“The party demanded that party and administrative officials of all levels shoulder the load like commanders of the revolutionary general staff and strongly push the pace of construction,” the source said. “Above all else, it repeatedly mentioned that the end-of-year settlement is approaching and strongly warned that workplaces that lag would be labeled self-preservationists, not innovators.”
The Propaganda and Agitation Department stressed that the latest political study session must lead to expressions of political loyalty.
“Due to the order, managing party and state officials connected to construction projects have discussed ways to shorten construction times, conducting independent reviews late into the night amid a tense atmosphere,” the source said.
Working-level personnel at construction sites — under pressure to accurately calculate completion dates by early next year — are busy computing dates that reflect onsite conditions. However, some construction sites are filing reports complaining that they need more supplies and labor.
However, the noisiest people are the construction workers. “Another insane deadline has begun,” they bitterly complain. “We forever live amid empty formalities?”
The Rodong Sinmun and other North Korean media reported on Nov. 20 that a grand ceremony was held the previous day to mark the completion of Kangdong County Hospital, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in attendance.
According to reports, Kim said at the ceremony that “proclaiming inauguration in the year of groundbreaking is the standard speed of achieving.”
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