economy

A sea change is taking place in the appearance of Hoeryong City of North Hamgyong Province in the northern tip of the DPRK. 

The mountainous city has recently become well known to the whole country as well as the province. 

It took the lead in implementing the first year’s task of the rural housing construction project.

Modern dwellings including single- and low-storey and terraced houses rose up in lines on sunny foot hills in rural villages.

“The city is directing great efforts to strengthening its construction force and improving the quality of structures. An important success we achieved is that we produced building materials needed for the construction with our own efforts,” said an official who took part in the project. 

According to him, the city is now able to carry out any construction projects in the city, including the rural housing construction, by locally producing such building materials as reinforcement bars, moisture-proof paper and waterproof plywood. 

The foodstuff processing factory, chemical necessities factory and Koryo medicine pharmaceutical factory which have been renovated and modernized have put the production of various drinks, processed foodstuffs, soap and traditional medicines on a normal footing. 

The city is also conducting conservation of forests and rivers in a planned way. 

“The city abounds in big and small rivers. In the recent two years, the whole city turned out as one to build strong banks along the rivers with a total length of dozens of kilometres,” said an official of the Hoeryong City People’s Committee. 

They carried out river dredging and stone covering of river banks by investing city-wide efforts so as to completely prevent flood damage in the city. 

It turned the tree nursery into a modern sapling production base whose informatization and mechanization are on a high level, to plant and cultivate saplings of good tree species. 

It further expanded the area of the nursery, established an advanced sci-tech diffusion network and provided it with over ten kinds of modern machinery including sowing machine, lister, sapling digger and motor-driven sprayer.  

It planted more than 700 000 saplings of good tree species, including Korean larch, Xanthoceras sorbifolia and seabuckthorn, last spring alone. 

As a result, it has planted thousands of hectares of forests with over ten species of wild fruit trees such as pine nut, seabuckthorn and black chokeberry, contributing to promoting the people’s health and improving their living standards.