Chairman Kim Jong-il Makes Successive On-Site Inspections of Major Machinery Factories
ROK Ministry of Unification
2004-06-18
1. Introduction
o The North issued successive news reports (on June 2 & 3 on Central Broadcasting Station) that Chairman Kim Jong-il had conducted on-site inspections at the Guseong Machine Tool Factory and the Cheongcheon River Machinery Factory.
¡Ø The recent two occasions of on-site inspections mark the Chairman's fourth and fifth public activities in the economic sector, following his previous visits to a food processing factory (Jan. 11), South Pyeongan Province's land resettlement project (March 17, Central & Pyongyang Broadcasting Stations), and the Paradise Machinery Association (May 18, Central Broadcasting Station).
2. Summary of News Reports
o During his visit to the Guseong Machine Tool Factory, Chairman Kim Jong-il inspected the various production processes and learned about the progress being made in terms of technological improvement and modernization, as well as production status and so forth.
- The Chairman praised the achievements made in modernization and scientific development during the past two years, and instructed other sectors and fields to follow its example.
- To produce more modern machine tools, he further pointed out that they should strive for speedier, more accurate and scientific method, as well as fully guarantee profits from production.
o While visiting the Cheongcheon River Machinery Factory, Chairman Kim Jong-il inspected production processes and closely examined the status of technical equipment and production standards.
- The Chairman expressed his satisfaction with the accomplishments thus far, and toured the factory's convenience facilities.
3. Analysis
o The Guseong Machine Tool Factory (Guseong city, North Pyeongan Province) subjected to Chairman Kim Jong-il's on-site inspection is a special company and is one of the North's top two machine tool factories, along with the Huicheon Machine Tool Factory.
- Since Chairman Kim Jong-il instructed during his on-site inspection in January 1999 that the factory be highlighted as a model of automation, the factory has focused its energy on modernizing its equipment.
- Since that time, the Chairman has conducted on-site inspections of the factory almost every year in order to observe progress being made in modernizing the factory.
¡Ø Chairman Kim Jong-il conducted on-site inspections of the Guseong Machine Tool Factory in Jan. 2000, Feb. 2001, May 2002, and June 2004.
o Meanwhile, the Cheongcheon River Machinery Factory (South Pyeongan Province) is one of the North's top munitions factories.
- In his 1998 on-site inspection, the Chairman urged that production be normalized so as to compensate for poor production in the heavy industry sector.
o Among his five public activities in the economic sector this year, Chairman Kim Jong-il made three on-site inspections of machinery factories, reflecting how much emphasis is being placed on the factories.
o The Chairman is intensifying on-site inspections of machine factories, which is:
- In line with this year's New Year editorial published by the North that stressed development of the machine industry and normalization of production.
¡Ø The New Year editorial stated, ¡°We must mobilize all reserves and potential without exception to normalize production in the fields of extraction, machinery, chemicals, construction materials, and forestry.¡±
- It is deemed that the Chairman wanted to examine the progress being made and encourage the modernization of major factories in the machine industry based on the understanding that technical development and modernization of machinery factories are necessary to strengthen competitiveness in the industry.
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