NK premier visits limestone mine in latest economic inspection trip

North Korean Premier Kim Tok-hun visited a limestone mine and a collective farm north of Pyongyang, state media reported Wednesday, the latest in a series of on-site inspection trips to economic development sites across the country.

The visit to the Sunchon Limestone Mine and the Phyongri Co-op Farm in Sunchon, about 50 km north of Pyongyang, is the third field inspection trip that Kim has made in less than a week as the country struggles to rebuild its economy amid international sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic.

On Sunday, state media reported that Kim visited the east coast cities of Tanchon and Hungnam to inspect Tanchon Power Station No. 5 and the Hungnam Fertilizer Complex. Three days earlier, state media said he traveled all the way to the northwestern city of Samjiyon near the border with China to visit construction sites.

"He called on officials and workers of the mine to set a realistic goal for increased production and take measures for it so as to ensure the smooth supply of cement for the construction of 10,000 flats in Pyongyang City," the official Korean Central News Agency said of Kim's visit to the limestone mine.

"He also urged them to actively introduce efficient working methods and put the work including the one for forming mining benches and increasing the capacity of conveyance on a long-term and three-dimensional basis," KCNA said.

North Korea has been striving to achieve goals and decisions set forth during a party congress in January. They include a new five-year economic development plan with an emphasis on self-reliance, despite global sanctions and the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. (Yonhap)