The Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea held in February set it as the primary task of the socialist economic construction at the present stage to cement the achievements made during the term of the Eighth Party Central Committee, lay a foundation of development for the stable and steady growth of the country’s economy and substantially improve the people’s living standards.

During the term of the Eighth Party Central Committee, different economic sectors pushed ahead with the expansion of capacities, reconstruction of lines and modernization true to the strategy for readjustment and reinforcement set forth by the Eighth Party Congress, thus making it possible to put the national economy on a track of growth and development.

Energy-saving oxygen-blast furnaces were installed and major production facilities upgraded at the Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex and the Hwanghae Iron and Steel Complex. Production lines were readjusted and reinforced across the metal industry to boost the output of pig iron and rolled steel.

Successes were made in the efforts to turn the structure of the chemical industry into the Juche-oriented one relying on locally available raw materials, namely the establishment of the sodium carbonate production line with glauberite as a starting material, the inauguration of the nutrient liquid fertilizer factory at the Sunchon Chemical Complex and the building of the melamine resin industry. And the Namhung Youth Chemical Complex and the Hungnam Fertilizer Complex expanded their fertilizer production capacities.

The production capacities were built up at key machine factories such as the Ryongsong Machine Complex and the Kumsong Tractor Factory, making a step forward in the development of the machine industry.

The electric power industry overfulfilled its production target and built new power bases like Orangchon Power Station No. 3 and the Kosong Army-People Power Station, while the coal-mining industry made efforts to put production on a normal track to ensure a sustainable development of the overall economy.

The building materials industry drastically increased the cement output with the result that huge construction projects were carried out nationwide in such a way as to bring the phrase “groundbreaking soon accompanied by inauguration” into common use.

The light industry built or rebuilt many modern consumer goods production bases, and the agricultural sector began to bring about a remarkable change in all realms ranging from the structure of grain production to mechanization, irrigation system, farming methods, animal husbandry and vegetable production.

The successful year-after-year fulfillment of the economic plans and the laying of the foundations for further growth constitute a real progress that makes people bullish about the future of the economy.

Therefore, the Ninth Party Congress indicated that the period of the new five-year plan should be a phase of stabilization and consolidation, a phase of gradual and qualitative development and this must be set as the general goal, the principle of the work of the ninth-term Party Central Committee.

It is an uphill task to carry out the new long-term plan. But the Korean people are optimistically out in the general advance to accomplish the task put forth by the Party as they have keenly realized through their experience in the past five years that when they implement the Party resolutions they can bring earlier national prosperity and their wellbeing and rosy future.

Jong Hwa Sun