North Korean Economy Watch

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
(NK Brief No. 11-01-19)
1/19/2011

North Korean media outlets have been highlighting production of goods in the Pyongyang Textile Mill, the Sunheung Food Factory and other sites that represent the North’s light industry sector, while mines, power plants and other factories in regions throughout the country exhibit an atmosphere of productivity as labor is poured into an ‘offensive’ for increased output. In the first week of the year, after the New Year’s Joint Editorial was published, assemblies were held in cities and regions around the country in support of a labor revolution and in an effort to foster light industry. Lately, similar meetings have been held in factories and on cooperative farms.

North Korean authorities are also emphasizing the need to increase the quality of consumables, calling it a patriotic endeavor. An article on January 12 in the Korean Workers’ Party newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, was titled ‘Raising the Quality of People’s Consumable Goods is True Patriotism.’ The article emphasized the need to reform consumable goods production in order to successfully improve the lives of the people, something the regime has publicly promised to do this year.

The paper also stressed that the quality of consumable goods is most important to this effort, and that “decisively increasing the quality of consumables” is an esteemed and patriotic task. It called on all workers to focus on improving the quality of each and every good they produce, stating that it was necessary in this “age of development” to advance the people and the country.

The article said that the Party was prioritizing the improvement in quality, and that while it would take “decisive” steps to boost production numbers, improving quality was absolutely necessary, as well. It appears that the regime’s focus on quality improvement has two meanings. First, it is an effort to show the Party’s devotion to the people. The newspaper stated that the quality issue was not just an industrial issue, but rather, that the Party saw it as an issue about the people, and pointed to the tireless efforts of workers at the Samilpo Special Goods Factory, the Kangseo Pharmaceutical Factory, the Sinuiju Cosmetics Factory, the Pyongyang Gum Factory and the Ryongseong Food Plant.

Second, improving the quality of goods is a way to show patriotism. The article encouraged workers to increase their efforts by stating that “popular goods that are favorably received by the people and that are internationally competitive can only [be produced] through the efforts of truly patriotic people,” and it pointed to the “myriad food products” coming out of the potato processing plant in Daehongdan as an example. “Truly patriotic people” think about the country’s development before producing even one product,” according to the article, and a true patriot considers whether each and every product is internationally competitive.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 27th, 2011 at 4:23 pm and is filed under Light Industry, Manufacturing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.