N. Korea reports brisk work in agriculture, energy industry

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korean media on Friday reported brisk work in its
agriculture and energy industry, following Pyongyang's New Year message that
emphasized rebuilding the national economy and ties with the U.S.
In a joint newspaper editorial on Thursday that summed up the North's policy
goals for 2009, Pyongyang called for all-out effort in resolving the nation's
chronic food shortages "on our own" and reviving a post-war reconstruction
movement to rebuild the country's frail infrastructure.
"The heat wave of a production increase" swept through Pyongyang Thermal Power
Complex, North Korea's first thermal energy plant, to "achieve the energy
production plan for the first day of the New Year by 110 percent," the North's
Korean Central Broadcasting Station said.
The television station also reported workers fixing irrigation ditches and
blasting a mountain to create a mine in response to the New Year message.
The joint editorial also called for the restoration of the "Chollima Movement"
initiated by leader Kim Jong-il's father and the country's founder Kim Il-sung in
1956 to mobilize citizens for reconstruction amid the rubble of the Korean War.
Chollima refers to a mythical winged horse.
Analysts say Pyongyang will reach out to Washington to repair relations and
receive much-needed economic aid. In an apparent conciliatory signal toward the
incoming U.S. administration, the editorial asserted denuclearization of the
Korean Peninsula as North Korea's official policy.
South Korea's central bank says North Korea's economy shrank for the second year
in 2007 by 2.3 percent, following a 1.1 percent fall a year earlier. The global
economic crisis will likely drive down both export volume and outside aid.
The U.N. World Food Program says nearly a quarter of North Korea's population of
23 million needs outside food aid.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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