Last year General Secretary Kim Jong Un of the Workers’ Party of Korea issued a special order to make its Central Committee keep hold on the creation of a model unit for coastal cities and counties to make the most of their marine resources and achieve development in conformity with their specific conditions, and designated Sinpho, a typical coastal city with a small area under cultivation as compared with the number of its population, as the model unit.

He planned to push the construction of a modern offshore farming base in an aggressive and effective way so that it can serve as a creative role model that can be generalized across the country.

Currently, the DPRK is making dynamic efforts to bring about innovative progress in various sectors of the national economy and is building dwelling houses in the capital city and rural areas and industrial establishments in various regions. Construction is proceeding on an unprecedentedly extensive scale and successively and simultaneously. Given the situation, it was not so easy to build a new model of offshore farming on a trial basis.

However, Kim Jong Un took all necessary measures for the project such as promoting technical preparations and designing on a priority basis by the institution concerned for building the offshore farm and its aquaculture grounds and processing facilities and responsible settlement of scientific and technological problems arising in the project by the State Commission of Science and Technology, the State Academy of Sciences and other units. In July last year he visited the city to give field guidance over such preparations.

He convened a consultative meeting on regional economic development on site, in which he said the city of Sinpho with poor arable land and economic potential would be the richest of the cities and counties in the country within three or four years if scallop and kelp farming is successfully done in the waters off the Phungo-dong area, expressing his determination to build the offshore farm as an entity exemplary for aquaculture in the new era and present it to the local residents as a gift.

In November he revisited the offshore farm under construction to acquaint himself with the progress made in its construction, creation of its aquaculture grounds and preparations for their management and operation. He gave detailed instructions on completing the whole course of the construction project in the interests of the people and from the point of view of practical utility and took steps to send more skilled workers so that the project could be impeccably finished by the end of the year.

Under his wise leadership and warm care a new model base of advanced offshore farming was successfully built in the Phungo-dong area in the city of Sinpho.

The farm is equipped with scallop processing workshop, ultra-quick freezing chambers and general control room, seafood mother- and other farming ships and submersible boats.

“In the past seafood processing required a lot of manual work. But now that the processing section is equipped with scallop washer and other efficient machines, we can process seafood more easily,” said Kim Son Ok, leader of the processing workteam.

Kim Jong Un said at the inauguration ceremony of the Sinpho City Offshore Farm held on December 28: Our country with a long coastline has a number of coastal cities and counties, and our seas are clean and their ecological conditions are very good, so it is necessary to conduct farming and culture on a large scale in coastal areas by utilizing these favourable conditions. The creation of new experience in large-scale aquaculture in Sinpho, which was famous as a leading city in fishing, gives confidence that it is possible to restore and develop the fishing industry of the country with offshore farming as the main domain in the future.

Another new domain of regional economic development was opened up through the completion of the modern offshore farm with surely good prospects, he said, adding that the eye-opening change in the Sinpho area is a clear demonstration of the validity and vitality of the Korean-style view on development and Korean-style fighting method whereby a broad avenue to prosperity is opened up by taking self-reliance and self-respect as a lifeline.

Cha Kwang Hyok