Workers’ Orgs to Hold Conferences in May and June

National headquarters of the Kim Il Sung Youth League (L) and the Korea Democratic Women’s Union (R) in Pyongyang (Photo: Google image)

DPRK state media reported on 4 May (Friday) that the four major Workers’ Organizations will hold membership conferences “from late May to early June.”  KCNA reports:

Conferences of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea, the Union of Agricultural Workers of Korea and the Democratic Women’s Union of Korea are to be held here from late May to early June.

Discussed there will be the tasks of the working people’s organisations to hold in high esteem President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il as eternal leaders of the Party and revolution, carry through the decision of the Fourth Conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea and build a thriving socialist nation under the guidance of the dear respected Kim Jong Un.

It is not clear if the Workers’ Organizations’ conferences are linked to another large gathering in Pyongyang connected to boosting the country’s food supply.  Good Friends reported on its website on 2 May (Wednesday) that “the new leadership decided to hold a homeland meeting in Pyongyang early in May with the intent of preparing measures to resolve the problem of food shortages.  Three to four functionaries of related fields from each county, and even larger numbers from each city are continuing to gather in Pyongyang. . .the scale is second only to the party representatives’ conference held on 11 April.”  Good Friends also reported that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n), “personally ordered the meeting to be held, saying that good methods of food production should be sought fundamentally.”

AFP reports:

North Korean officials from across the country will meet in Pyongyang this month to discuss ways to boost agriculture in the food-scarce nation, a Seoul aid group said on Thursday.

The ‘Homeland Conference’ will focus on ways to expand farmland in the mountainous nation by cultivating rugged areas and inactive land, Good Friends said on its website.

The meeting will draw hundreds of people including central and local government officials, ruling communist party officials and other state agencies, making it as large as a party meeting last month, the aid group said.

Seoul’s unification ministry could not immediately confirm the reported meeting, for which the aid group gave no date.

The North suffered a famine which killed hundreds of thousands in the 1990s and severe food shortages continue. UN agencies said last November that three million people would need food aid this year and child malnutrition was rising.

Good Friends said the Pyongyang meeting would also consider a chronic workforce shortage in agriculture.

Many collectivised farms suffer high rates of absenteeism as farmers roam in search of roots and wild greens to compensate for grain shortages, it said.

KJI’s Yachting Holiday

One of Kim Jong Il's yachts at Lake T'aesong, between Pyongyang and Namp'o (Photo: Google Earth)

Kim Jong Il’s (Kim Cho’ng-il’s) last public appearance was a guidance tour of the 8 February Vinalon Complex which was reported by DPRK media on, or around, 8 August.  The country has undertaken reconstruction and recovery work from typhoons and floods, which have killed over 30 and caused extensive damage to homes, agriculture and infrastructure.  KCBS reported on 11 August that “a struggle to heal from the aftermaths of the consecutive natural disasters is actively being waged nationwide.”  To that effect, according to Asahi Shimbun, DPRK traders in China were ordered around 10 August to purchase 5,000 tons of grain a piece or “what appears to be over 100,000 tons.”  Meanwhile, overseas agents of the Ministry of State Security are being recalled to Pyongyang because many of them are under investigation for hiding money and other assets in their assigned countries.

One of Kim Jong Il's residences on the coast in South Hamgyo'ng Province (Photo: Google Earth)

This deluge of activity might demand the attention of the micromanaging party center, who is allegedly reading his briefings and ‘phoning instructions from his yacht somewhere off the country’s east coast.  Yonhap, via Korea Herald, reports:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has been enjoying sailing on his yacht along the east coast in recent weeks, a person familiar with the issue said Thursday, as his country is struggling to recover from devastating floods.

Kim has been sailing in waters off a coastal villa, where he has been staying since August for a summer holiday, as he did in previous years, the person said on condition of anonymity. He was not authorized to speak to the media on intelligence matters on the record. He did not elaborate on the type of boat and who accompanied the leader during the cruise.

The development underscored that Kim’s lavish lifestyle has not changed despite international sanctions banning the sale of yachts and other luxury goods to North Korea to try to squeeze Kim and his ruling elites.

Despite years of economic difficulty and food shortages, Kim has engaged in the gift politics of showering his top aides and other elites with luxury goods to win their loyalty.

Kim’s summer holiday comes as the North is working to recover from the floods in the recent past that left dozens of people dead, injured or missing, while destroying thousands of homes and submerging or washing away tens of thousands of hectares of farmland.

There was no report in the North’s state media on whether he traveled to the flood-stricken areas.

KJI does not necessarily restrict his yachting activities to the summer months.  When he visited an Office #39-managed seafood plant in Ku’mya County, South Hamgyo’ng, during February 2010, he traveled by boat.  In 2009, Italian authorities seized two Azimut yachts purchased for KJI by European and Asian front companies.

A view of the premises of a KJI residence in South Hamgyo'ng Province (Photo: Google Earth)

One of KJI’s South Hamgyo’ng residences is down the coast from a KPA Navy (Korean People’s Navy) station, under its East Sea Command.  When the Chinese PLA Navy visited Wo’nsan during 4-8 August, the KPA Navy Song and Dance Ensemble participated in a performance with their PRC counterparts.  A Chinese military blogger has published over a dozen photographs of the ensemble; some are candid shots of the women prior to going on stage, and others are of the performance.

Members of the KPA Navy Song and Dance Ensemble, prior to their 6 August performance, part of a program of events during the PLA Navy's goodwill visit to the DPRK during 4-8 August (Photo: Sina.com)

A part of the performance given by the KPA Navy Song and Dance Ensemble on 6 August, during a goodwill visit from 4 to 8 August of the PLA Navy (Photo: Sina.com)

A performer of the KPA Navy Song and Dance Ensemble. Highlighted in the image is her digital camera (Photo: Sina.com)

Watching the River Overflow

Workers from the Pyongyang Railway Bureau shoveling a drainage ditch near a track bed (Photo: KCNA)

Torrential rain continues to inundate the DPRK.  The country has taken some measures to prevent damage, but now there is concern that the Taedong River will overflow.  KBS World reports:

North Korea says that the Daedong River, which runs through the North’s capital city of Pyongyang, could overflow as heavy torrential rain is pounding the North.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Friday that Pyeongyang City, South Pyeongan and Hwanghae provinces saw about 50 to 150 millimeters of precipitation until Friday and called for measures to cope with a potential flood in a reservoir in the Nam River.

If the Daedong River overflows, it could flood lowland areas and farmlands in Pyongyang.

South Korea’s weather agency forecasts up to 150 millimeters of rain in Hwanghae and Hamgyeong provinces and 20 to 60 millimeters of precipitation in Pyeongan province until Saturday night.

The premises of KPA Unit #963 showing signs of recent rain in the DPRK (Photo: KCNA)