Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, inspected the Ansok tideland under restoration of the South Phyongan Provincial General Tideland Reclamation Enterprise on August 21.

On the spot, he received a detailed report on the damage and recovery from Jo Yong Won, Kim Jae Ryong, Kang Sun Nam, Jong Kyong Thaek, Kim Jong Gwan and Pak Jong Chon.

The South Phyongan Provincial General Tideland Reclamation Enterprise failed to build drainage structure in a qualitative way at the embankment of Ansok tideland in Sokchi-ri, Onchon County of Nampho City. So, the seawater recently burst the embankment, flooding more than 560 hectares of tideland including over 270 hectares of rice paddies.

After analyzing in detail the motive and cause of damage, he seriously blamed the officials for their very irresponsible neglect of duties.

He said: After being told a few days ago that the Ansok tideland was flooded, I dispatched secretaries of the Party Central Committee to the spot to guide the recovery work, and took a step to mobilize even service personnel. But leading officials of the Cabinet, ministries and national agencies have never been to the recovery site. The premier looked round the site once or twice with the attitude of an onlooker and sent a vice-premier to it, who played the role of a fuel supplier only. And the director of the Tideland Reclamation Bureau, who had to directly guide the recovery work, was criticized for telling the bureau Party committee that he would return to his office as he has nothing to do on the spot, but he almost stayed in an office of the enterprise without doing anything. He also concealed much fuel oil that the state provided for building the emptying-gate.

Sternly blaming those deeds, Kim Jong Un termed them deliberate idleness bereft of any remorse and any will for carrying out the duty as those responsible for the serious damage.

He said that he stressed the importance of the proper nationwide measures to prevent the damage some days ago when the rice paddies in Anbyon County were flooded and a heavy blow was given to the irresponsible working style of leading officials of the government and the regional administrative and economic workers through the fighting spirit of soldiers involved in the recovery campaign, but they still remain insensitive. It is the posture calling for help of the army this time, too, and they are taking such brazen-faced, haughty attitude that the army's help is natural, he pointed out.

He further said: It was told that from June this year the enterprise had conducted the construction of a drainage structure, as a step for preventing the flooding of farmland, in an irresponsible manner without getting the state's permission and without the construction control institution's supervision and did not take any step though it discovered in advance the leakage of water at the floodgate bank. The wrong work-style of junior units is a problem and, moreover, the Cabinet was totally unaware of the fact that the Tideland Reclamation Bureau approved such construction at its own will. This serves as a typical example showing how slack the administrative and economic discipline is. Judging by this, we can know that all the administrative and economic work is not done in a unified way.

He said that a proper work system has not been established within the Cabinet and incompetent officials have been appointed so they failed to guide the affiliated units well, adding that in recent years the administrative and economic discipline of the Kim Tok Hun Cabinet has got out of order more seriously and, consequently, the idlers are spoiling all the state economic work with the irresponsible work manner. Noting that the Cabinet has became an instruction and information organ able to give command only, he said the blame for it is largely on the Party Central Committee in charge of the Party policy and Party guidance over the state economic work and economic organs.

Clearly stating that the damage is not a calamity caused by natural disasters but a human disaster by irresponsibility and indiscipline of the loafers from A to Z, he said that pardon can never be allowed for those politically immature persons who do not keep step with the appeal of the Party Central Committee, mental under-wits who do not accept the warning as a warning, bureaucrats who ignore the safety of people's lives and property and those who are unfaithful to their duty for the Party and the revolution. He gave orders to the Organizational Leadership Department and the Discipline Inspection Department of the Party Central Committee, the State Inspection Commission and the Central Public Prosecutors Office to ferret out the responsible organs and the persons concerned and strictly censure and sternly punish them by the Party and law.

Noting that the irresponsibility and indiscipline of officials are rampant even at the moment when a special mention was given on taking thorough measures for protecting crops from damage throughout the country, he bitterly said this is mainly attributable to the feeble work attitude and wrong viewpoint of the premier of the Cabinet.

He said that the premier stressed in his relevant report that the area of paddy fields in the Ansok Tideland belongs to a military unit stationed in that region and the area is not included in the state grain production plan for this year, without presenting any proper measure. Then the premier left the recovery work almost to the army, organizing it in a poor way. Such facts make one clearly know about his slackness and inactivity in dealing with the damage, Kim Jong Un said, expressing regret over his thoughts and conducts not befitting the premier leading the economic headquarters of the country and responsible for the people's livelihood. He said it is necessary to plainly examine the irresponsible work attitude and ideological viewpoint of the premier in the Party, and gave an instruction to discuss at the Party Discipline Examination Commission the issue of expelling the director of the Tideland Reclamation Bureau from the Party.

Saying that warning is given once again against the practices of disobeying or paying no attention to the direction and instructions of the Party and the government and the relaxed and lazy work attitude of some officials who are not prepared while disregarding other things out of their own business, not caring about the disaster of the country, Kim Jong Un stressed the need to reform the ideological and moral state of officials steeped in defeatism and self-protection and establish a habit that all the people turn out as befitting masters in the state affairs, obeying one discipline.

Stressing the need to finish the tideland recovery work in the shortest time, he said that all efforts should be made to finish the rehabilitation of ruined embankment as soon as possible, ensure the maximum area of rice fields capable of restoring and take decisive steps for improving the growth of paddy rice including measures for salt damage prevention and nutritious care so as to minimize the decrease in rice yield and attain the grain yield at an early expected level.

He also called upon all agricultural sectors across the country to take preventive measures against natural disasters in every way and thus thoroughly overcome the damage.

Noting that all sectors and units now work like locking the door after the horse is gone from the stable, in the way that they take necessary measures and draw lessons always after suffering national loss as they have not maintained absolutely high alert, he stressed that thorough and effective measures should be taken, with the recent accident as an occasion, to prevent the repeat of such absurd loss by defenselessness and incompetence and, in particular, human calamity by irresponsibility.

He ardently called upon all the officials and working people of each unit to discharge their duties strictly, conscious of the attitude of masters, and display their high patriotism and devotion to the work of the country.

On his orders, an intensive inspection will be made of the Tideland Reclamation Bureau, the Ministry of State Construction Supervision, the South Phyongan Provincial General Tideland Reclamation Enterprise, the Nampho City Land and Environment Protection Management Bureau and the Nampho City Construction Supervisory Bureau.