ID :
22225
Wed, 10/01/2008 - 22:42
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/22225
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Ranking N.K. officials inspect local province amid leader`s absence
SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Yonhap) -- A group of ranking Pyongyang officials inspected farms
in a rural province, North Korea's state-run radio said Wednesday, while their
top leader Kim Jong-il has remained out of the public eye for over a month.
"Cabinet ministry and other central government officials visited various sites in
Daehongdan County, Ryanggang Province, on Sept. 30," the Korean Central
Broadcasting Station said.
The officials stopped at a pig farm as well as facilities for growing and
processing potatoes, the report said.
Kim, who is reportedly recovering from a stroke, was absent from the visit made
to mark the 10th anniversary of his campaign titled "About making a revolution in
potato farming."
This is not the first time that Pyongyang officials have made a group inspection
tour without the top leader. High-ranking members of the Workers' Party and the
Cabinet visited a state-run farm in the same county in 2002 to mark the 50th
founding anniversary of the farm without Kim. In 2005, they toured local
facilities previously inspected by their leader.
Some North Korea observers say the presumably ailing leader may continue to send
his officials on local inspection missions until he recuperates enough to resume
public activities.
Among the officials present in the latest tour were Choe Tae-bok, secretary of
the Workers' Party Central Committee, Choe Yong-rim, secretary-general of the
Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, Kwak Pom-gi, deputy premier, and Pak
Nam-gi, head of a department of the Party Central Committee, the report said.
Seoul officials believe Kim, 66, suffered a stroke in the middle of August and is
recovering after having brain surgery. North Korean officials, however, have
denied speculation over Kim's poor health.
Pyongyang had encouraged its citizens to grow more potatoes in an effort to ease
chronic shortages of rice, the country's staple food, since the late 1990s when
one to three million residents are believed to have starved to death.
The North has since depended on foreign handouts to help feed its 23 million people.
Last month, the U.N. World Food Program appealed to international donors to
provide an additional US$60 million in emergency aid to North Korea, saying it
could slip back into famine
in a rural province, North Korea's state-run radio said Wednesday, while their
top leader Kim Jong-il has remained out of the public eye for over a month.
"Cabinet ministry and other central government officials visited various sites in
Daehongdan County, Ryanggang Province, on Sept. 30," the Korean Central
Broadcasting Station said.
The officials stopped at a pig farm as well as facilities for growing and
processing potatoes, the report said.
Kim, who is reportedly recovering from a stroke, was absent from the visit made
to mark the 10th anniversary of his campaign titled "About making a revolution in
potato farming."
This is not the first time that Pyongyang officials have made a group inspection
tour without the top leader. High-ranking members of the Workers' Party and the
Cabinet visited a state-run farm in the same county in 2002 to mark the 50th
founding anniversary of the farm without Kim. In 2005, they toured local
facilities previously inspected by their leader.
Some North Korea observers say the presumably ailing leader may continue to send
his officials on local inspection missions until he recuperates enough to resume
public activities.
Among the officials present in the latest tour were Choe Tae-bok, secretary of
the Workers' Party Central Committee, Choe Yong-rim, secretary-general of the
Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, Kwak Pom-gi, deputy premier, and Pak
Nam-gi, head of a department of the Party Central Committee, the report said.
Seoul officials believe Kim, 66, suffered a stroke in the middle of August and is
recovering after having brain surgery. North Korean officials, however, have
denied speculation over Kim's poor health.
Pyongyang had encouraged its citizens to grow more potatoes in an effort to ease
chronic shortages of rice, the country's staple food, since the late 1990s when
one to three million residents are believed to have starved to death.
The North has since depended on foreign handouts to help feed its 23 million people.
Last month, the U.N. World Food Program appealed to international donors to
provide an additional US$60 million in emergency aid to North Korea, saying it
could slip back into famine
