On October 10 last, the founding anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea held in a grand way the inaugural ceremony of the Ryonpho Greenhouse Farm in South Hamgyong Province, demonstrating in practice that its determination to build the large-scale greenhouse farm by October 10 this year was not empty talk.
Determination for the Good of the People
Looking back, Korea has made determinations to the surprise of the world.
On the debris after the Korean war (1950-1953) it made a determination to produce tractors on its own efforts, and put it into practice. When trucks and bulldozers were needed, it built them. Later it produced electric locomotives and a 10 000-ton press. It built the 8km-long West Sea Barrage.
In recent years it has made world-startling determinations more frequently. In 2016 when the northern area of North Hamgyong Province was severely hit by flooding, contrary to the prediction of the world, the country decided to rehabilitate the area in a little over two months before the cold set in, and built up the area more splendidly than before.
Amid the sanctions and blockade by the hostile forces, global public health crisis and its difficult economic situation, it decided to build 10 000 flats every year in Pyongyang in the coming five years from 2021.
In February 2022 it made public that it would build a greenhouse farm, the largest of its kind in the world, in 230-odd days in the Ryonpho area. Though it had accumulated experience while building a large-scale greenhouse farm in 2019, the amount of work to be done in this project was two times larger than the previous project, the time was shorter by half and the farm’s level of modernization was to be far higher. This determination drew the attention of the world.
Why has the country made such audacious determinations without any hesitation?
They have always been for the good of the people. To take the above-mentioned project for example, in South Hamgyong Province where the greenhouse farm was to be built, and in Hamhung, the seat of the province, there are several factories and enterprises that shoulder a large share in the country’s sci-tech and economic development; it was the WPK’s will to regularly supply fresh vegetables all year round to the scientists, technicians and workers at these factories and enterprises.
Determinations Carried Out by Relying on the People
If one were to analyze the secret of how the country implements any of its determinations, one should not try to find it in the size of its economic potential or in the availability of such material factors as raw materials and funds.
The Party and government formulate plan for the future, make arrangements, reach crucial determinations and carry them out by always believing in the people’s inexhaustible strength.
The country could reach a decision on building the Ryonpho Greenhouse Farm in such a short period as it believed in the strength of the great army-people unity. The soldiers of the Korean People’s Army have performed great feats not only in their posts of national defence but also in the socialist construction sites under the slogan “We serve the country and the people,” which is unique to them. And the people have braved difficulties, gaining strength and courage from the soldiers’ fighting spirit and working style. The great strength, with which the soldiers and people advance together while helping each other, has wrought miracles in removing the aftermath of natural calamities that hit the country several times in the past.
The wise leadership of the WPK of giving free rein to the inexhaustible strength of the people makes the country turn into reality all the determinations it has made.
With regard to the Ryonpho Greenhouse Farm project, Kim Jong Un, President of the State Affairs of the DPRK, personally designated the site of the farm, gave detailed instructions on its construction, and ensured that the necessary equipment, materials and funds were supplied on a preferential basis. At the ground-breaking ceremony, he made a speech, encouraging the builders, broke the ground and pressed the button of the first blasting.
A powerful information and motivation campaign was organized at the project site, and with the trait of helping and leading one another forward running high, the movements of competing with one another and sharing good experiences were conducted to create new standards and norms.
The soldier-builders seconded to the project worked day and night to turn the Party’s intention into reality. They adopted a written pledge to implement the project on schedule without fail, and perseveringly overcame all the difficulties they encountered; even in the situation, in which the highest-level emergency anti-epidemic system was put in place to cope with the unexpected public health crisis, and amid sand gales and torrential rain, they never suspended construction.
The locals, sharing weal and woe with the soldiers during the whole project period, provided sufficient amounts of aggregate and created forests against the winds from the sea.
Built as a result are over 850 greenhouses with the production area of 100 hectares and the annual production capacity of tens of thousands of tons, as well as houses, numbering 1 000, and public buildings. Vegetable production in the greenhouses is put on a modern, intensive and industrial footing.
The country plans to build greenhouse farms in various parts of the country with this farm as a model as part of its effort to usher in a new era of rural rejuvenation. There is no doubt that its plan will turn into reality without fail.
