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, gave field guidance over the construction project of the city of Samjiyon between July 11 and 12.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un was accompanied by Kim Tok Hun, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee and premier of the Cabinet, and Jo Yong Won, Ri Il Hwan, Kim Jae Ryong and other leading officials of the WPK Central Committee.

On November 14, 2021, when visiting the city that had turned into a standard of cultured mountainous city and a model regional city, he had proudly reviewed the fact that the four-year-long city construction project was successfully carried out as planned and intended by the Party. And he had set forth important tasks and ways for better sprucing up the city as an area for the study tour of revolutionary battle sites and a tourist area, including those of pushing ahead with the road and railway construction, taking measures for the protection of the ecological environment and forests and additionally building hotels and hostels, in keeping with its changed living environment.

True to his on-site instructions and the decisions of a plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee, the additional Samjiyon city construction projects have been completed in the main.

The construction of 40-odd public and production buildings, including the Samjiyon Revolutionary Museum and neighbourhood-serving amenities, scores of houses for families of employees and roads extending over 230km was completed, and some unfinished projects such as the remodelling of Samjiyon Airport and railway construction are under way or on the stage of preparation.

Going round various places of the city, Kim Jong Un learned in detail about the construction projects.

He highly praised the builders for having achieved wonderful successes by exerting responsible efforts into the major planned projects to spruce up the city as a powerful base for education in the revolutionary traditions and a model of highly-civilized mountainous city.

He strongly pointed out the irresponsibility leading officials had revealed in the course of construction and a series of serious deviations caused by it, and gave instructions on taking necessary measures.

Going round the newly-built hotels for domestic tourists, he severely pointed out that their construction was carried out carelessly at an outdated and backward level contrary to the requirements of the developing times. Noting that those new buildings had to be remodelled and, consequently, this problem badly affected the general long-term plan for the city development, bringing economic losses, he sharply criticized the irresponsible construction inspection organ for its serious neglect of duty by making the innumerable and serious shortcomings pass through the completion inspection and handing them over to the operation units.

The need to enhance the role of construction inspection organs has been stressed on every occasion, but officials in this sector do not pay attention to the demands, instructions and warnings of the Party Central Committee and the government, he said, adding: The leading official of the Ministry of State Construction Control has never engaged in the inspection of completed public facilities in this city, to which importance has been attached. This fact alone clearly shows that his ideological laxity and neglect of duty have reached the extremes.

Noting that Ri Sun Chol, minister of State Construction Control, has never been to the city since December last year when the inspection of completed facilities started, leaving it to officials of the field headquarters, and a former vice-minister of the same ministry idled his time away on the spot with an irresponsible work attitude, he sternly pointed out that they are good-for-nothing persons devoid of the standpoint of serving the state and people and the elementary morality and qualification as civil servants. And he gave instructions to suspend their rights and hand them over immediately to a law-enforcement organ for investigation.

He also gave instructions to stop the work of all members of the completion inspection committee under the Samjiyon city construction project headquarters responsible for the construction and call them to account for their work and downgrade the deputy director of the Organizational Leadership Department of the WPK Central Committee who is in charge of the political group in the field of construction.

He said that the vice-premier of the Cabinet, who had neglected his duty for guiding the overall construction while attaching importance only to the housing construction in Pyongyang, and the standpoint of working to their liking and work abilities of senior officials at the state designing organ should be re-examined without fail.

As the deviations revealed in the construction of the city of Samjiyon clearly show, it is impossible to correctly implement the Party’s Juche-oriented idea on architecture and construction policy, if leading officials are irresponsible and the edge of construction inspection is dull, entailing such grave consequences as loss and violation of the interests of the state and people, he stressed once again, adding that everything should be corrected immediately.

Kim Jong Un set forth important tasks for face-lifting Samjiyon to be a new and innovative cultured city in the light of the daily-growing requirements of today’s reality.

Unveiling the Party’s plan to develop it into a typical mountainous city in the northern part of the country, a characteristic combined four-season mountainous tourist resort, to meet the cultural and emotional demands of the people on the highest level and revitalize international tourism, he said that the grand nature of the Mt Paektu area consisting of mountains and primeval forests is our precious resource, of which we can feel proud. He gave important instructions for building a tourist resort in the world-famous Mt Paektu for our people and the world people and making tourism a major driving force of the development of the region.

Saying that the Phothae area, an undeveloped area in the city, can be regarded as a suitable area for mountain tourism for sports and experience for its large amount of snowfall and natural, geographical, meteorological and climatic conditions, he discussed the ways of pushing ahead with the construction of a large-scale ski resort within two years, and indicated stage-by-stage tasks for building a skiing ground and holiday camp with Mt Pukphothae as a centre, remodelling Samjiyon Airport and laying a tourist railway and the orientation and ways for effectively developing and making use of tourist resources in the city.

Our Party has already and constantly emphasized that architecture is an important criterion showing the degree of civilization of a country and nation and the development of a relevant society in a visual way, he said, stressing the need to build the cultural and tourist facilities in the city in a developed architectural style peculiar to our country which combines national characteristics with modernity.

As even one architectural structure reflects the ideology of the times and the level of civilization, construction itself is an important ideological undertaking, he said, repeatedly stressing that the our-nation-first ideology and the people-first principle should be thoroughly embodied by establishing the Juche orientation in architecture.

He said that we would build the ski resort in the Mt Pukphothae area as a cultural tourist centre, which perfectly embodies the people-first architectural ideals of the Party, serves the people and clearly reflects their demands and which will be frequented by them.

He also set forth important tasks to be fulfilled in improving the convenience in climbing Mt Paektu and steadily intensifying the study tour of revolutionary battle sites, including those of expanding the road of Mt Paektu climbing tour to be double-lane one and paving it and laying a tourist railway to the Mudubong area.

He stressed the need to build and expand stage by stage the accommodation and catering facilities, and transport facilities such as mountain railways and cableways in the mountainous areas around the city for visitors to the revolutionary battle sites and tourists.

Saying it is necessary to develop mountain tourism into a highly promising industry in conformity with the natural and geographical features of the country, in which the mountain areas account for almost 80 percent of the whole territory, he stressed that at the same time it is important to perfect legal and institutional mechanisms for protecting nature and the environment.

He said that the construction of a large-scale Samjiyon tourist resort is of great significance in widely introducing the nature of the country, further improving the level of the people’s cultural and emotional life and securing the driving force of the regional development through tourism.

He said there is no doubt that the Mt Paektu tourist resort, which we are planning to develop and will surely unfold in the near future, would be a resort, which will make the friendly foreign guests feel special attraction.

Thanks to the outstanding and seasoned guidance of Kim Jong Un, the great genius of creation and construction and benevolent father of the people, who continuously plans to bring a new world to be prosperous day after day, while working heart and soul going through untrodden paths for the happiness of the people and prosperity of the country, eye-opening and miraculous reality will be unfolded in the historic city of Samjiyon in the near future.