Pyongyang: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has celebrated the inauguration of a new fish farm on the east coast while urging further development of rural areas, state media KCNA reported on Monday. The announcement comes amid ongoing concerns about the nation’s chronic economic challenges.
Kim presided over the inauguration ceremony of the Sinpho City Offshore Farm on Saturday. Located in a coastal town that hosts a submarine base and has seen tests of submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the farm is designed to cultivate and process marine products such as scallops, kelp, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins.
The fish farm is part of Kim’s ambitious “Regional Development 20×10 Policy,” which aims to construct modern factories in at least 20 remote counties annually over the next decade. Kim reportedly visited the site multiple times during its construction, praising it as “a peculiar creation for regional transformation in the area which had been only a white beach with pine trees five months ago.”
In his address at the ceremony, Kim emphasized the importance of rural development as a foundation for national progress. “This is a start of the important undertaking whereby to ensure steady progress in socialist construction, aspiring after simultaneous and multiple development on a nationwide scale,” he stated, according to KCNA.
Kim has prioritized modernizing the farming industry and enhancing rural communities as part of efforts to address food shortages and economic difficulties exacerbated by international sanctions and frequent natural disasters. Agriculture remains a critical sector for North Korea, but it struggles to meet the country’s needs.
During a key assembly of the ruling Workers’ Party held from December 23 to 27, Kim called for accelerated implementation of the initiative and proposed launching another fish farm as part of a trial program, drawing on the experience gained from Sinpho, KCNA reported on Sunday.
