"Criticized for being old and poorly constructed"
Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, strongly reprimanded construction supervision officials for negligence in their duties at the Samjiyon City development site near Baekdu Mountain and ordered their punishment.
On the 11th and 12th of this month, during his on-site guidance of the Samjiyon City construction project, Chairman Kim "strongly criticized the irresponsibility of the leading cadres and the series of serious deviations caused by it" and instructed corrective measures, reported the Korean Central News Agency on the 14th.
Chairman Kim pointed out that the newly built guesthouse for domestic tourists was "constructed carelessly with outdated and backward standards fundamentally opposed to the demands of the developing era," and mentioned that the abnormal renovation and repair of the new building caused economic losses. In particular, he criticized the construction supervision officials for "irresponsibly allowing serious deficiencies to pass through the completion inspection and handing over the facility to the operating unit."
He further stated that "Ri Sun Chol, the Minister of National Construction Supervision, has not visited Samjiyon even once since the start of the completion inspection in December last year and has only neglected his duties by leaving it to the local command cadres," and that "a certain former Vice Minister of the National Construction Supervision Ministry wasted time irresponsibly while sitting idly at the site." Chairman Kim ordered that "these individuals be suspended from their rights and immediately handed over to legal authorities for review."
Moreover, Chairman Kim instructed that all members of the Samjiyon City construction command completion inspection committee be suspended from work and that the deputy director of the Party Central Committee’s Organization and Guidance Department, responsible for the construction sector’s political group, be disciplined. He also stated that "the neglect of duties by the Deputy Premier of the Cabinet, who should oversee the entire construction project but focuses only on residential construction in Pyongyang, as well as the hobbyist attitudes and business capabilities of responsible officials in the national design institutions, must be thoroughly reexamined." Among the Deputy Premiers of the North Korean Cabinet, Park Hun is in charge of the construction sector.
Chairman Kim expressed plans to activate international tourism in Samjiyon and discussed on-site the construction of a large-scale ski tourism resort within two years. Accompanying him on this field guidance were Premier Kim Deok Hun, Party Organization Secretary Jo Yong Won, and Party Secretaries Ri Il Hwan and Kim Jae Ryong.
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