"Kim Jong-un Orders North Korean Overseas Representatives to Remit Construction Costs for Pyongyang General Hospital"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-woo] According to Japan's Tokyo Shimbun on the 5th, North Korea has instructed its overseas representatives to pay more than $100 each as construction fees for the Pyongyang General Hospital, which is being promoted as a countermeasure for quarantine issues such as responding to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) crisis.

Tokyo Shimbun, citing sources familiar with North Korea-China relations, reported that dissatisfaction among North Korea's overseas representatives is growing over the North Korean authorities' order to pay hospital construction fees amid difficulties in earning foreign currency due to sanctions against North Korea. This order is known to have been issued to the relevant sectors in March of this year. Tokyo Shimbun added that the order appears to have been directly decided by Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea.

The Pyongyang General Hospital is a large hospital being built in the heart of Pyongyang, with construction starting on March 17 of this year. According to the Korean Central News Agency, Chairman Kim, who attended the groundbreaking ceremony, instructed, "Build it so splendidly that the world will envy it by October 10, the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party."

However, with the prolonged sanctions against North Korea compounded by the COVID-19 crisis, it is widely believed that North Korea is facing great difficulties in smoothly procuring construction materials. Tokyo Shimbun reported that in the situation where international sanctions have been prolonged and the North Korea-China border closure continues as a COVID-19 countermeasure, trade volume between the two countries has sharply decreased, and a North Korean trade official expressed a painful stance on this payment order, saying, "Not even tears of blood come out."