The movement to win the title of forest of socialist patriotism is in full swing amid the nationwide efforts to turn all mountains into “gold mountains” and “treasure mountains” thickly wooded with trees.

According to statistics in November last year, over the past decade since the movement began, more than 8 000 units have won the title, millions of hectares of forest have turned into forest at the stage of growth, and the area of the land of forest trees has increased to millions of hectares.

This is a demonstration of the validity and vitality of the movement.

All the regions of the country have built their own tree nurseries as suited to their actual conditions, in which saplings of good species are produced in a planned manner for reforestation.

The Ponghwa Chemical Factory has built a tree nursery covering an area of five hectares and equipped with a mist spraying system in its compound and forests under their charge. By using the saplings produced there, it has conducted reforestation over 40 hectares of barren land and areas near roads and railway and tended the trees in a responsible manner. It has also created mixed forests of pine-nut, larch and black walnut trees in over 260 hectares under its charge, enjoying benefits from them.

Every year an increasing number of farms, namely the Unhung Farm in Thaechon County and the Tansan Farm in Pakchon County, both in North Phyongan Province, expand the forest coverage in villages and nearby mountains by planting saplings produced in their own tree nurseries.

Achievements have been made around the country in the efforts to build forests of economic, protective and scenic values in a rational way to meet the regional features.

The Sambong Farm in Phyongwon County, South Phyongan Province, a place famous for bamboo-willow trees, has created dozens of hectares of thick forests to obtain timber necessary for farming and other economic activities. Following the example of this farm, many other farms are competitively planting and tending bamboo-willow trees.

Educational institutions are also involved in the movement.

By vigorously conducting the mass movement to create and tend Children’s Union Forests, thousands of schools across the country have won the title of forest of socialist patriotism.

The upswing in the movement is implanting the love for the country into the minds of working people and schoolchildren and contributing to the development of the national economy and the improvement of the people’s living standards.

Kim Sung Il