Kim blasts officials for delayed project

KIM Jong Un, leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, has blasted local officials over a delayed construction project, state media reported yesterday, his second such rebuke over the economy in recent weeks.

It’s unusual for state media to carry dispatches showing Kim’s criticism of officials.

The latest fury came during a visit to the power plant’s construction site in the northeast. After officials briefed him about the project and its delays, he was “speechless” and “extremely enraged,” the Korean Central News Agency reported.

The plan originally was ordered in the early 1980s by Kim’s late grandfather, the DPRK’s founder Kim Il Sung.

“Kim pointed out that the Cabinet has specified the project as a target project that should be accelerated,” the KCNA said. “He criticized the officials of the province and county for having not sent a letter to him about the situation.”

During an inspection of factories, a shipyard, a holiday camp, a farm and an army institution in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong bordering China and Russia, Kim said the provincial party committee was “working in a perfunctory manner, disregarding an important policy” it should have given priority to.

During a spa camp inspection, he said the bathtubs for hot spring therapy were “dirty, gloomy and unsanitary” due to poor management.

Earlier this month, during visits to two textile factories, Kim also lambasted officials for poor building maintenance, failing to modernize production lines, a lack of expertise and other problems.

Kim has promised to boost living standards. Under his rule, the DPRK’s economy has gradually improved.

During a full session of the Workers’ Party of Korea in April, it was decided that all efforts would be concentrated on economic construction to improve people’s livelihood.