Mick Hartley

At this time of year the press look back at the past twelve months. North Korea is no exception. For the Korean Central News Agency it's been a Year Filled with Miraculous Events:

After the torch of a new revolutionary upsurge was kindled at the Chollima Steel Complex, home to the Chollima (legendary winged horse galloping 400 km a day) movement, in December last year, a lot of stirring events have been recorded in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea this year.

The Wonsan Youth Power Station was put into operation at the beginning of the year to make the Wonsan citizens fully benefit from electricity in their houses, while increasing the country's generating capacity. Factories, buildings and streets of Manpho City, Jagang Province have facelifted themselves to turn the city into a socialist fairyland….

The Samilpho Specialties Factory, furnished with modern processing and packing equipment, has produced many varieties of foodstuffs with local materials.

Grand evening galas of firecrackers "Fireworks for Great, Prosperous and Powerful Nation", "We Will Emerge Victorious!" and "We Will Go Confidently Following the Great Party!" were held to commemorate the 97th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung, May Day and the 64th anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea respectively.

The Nyongwon Power Station was built as a monumental edifice of the Songun era and a magnesia clinker production system established on the basis of domestic resources and technology.

Included in this year's tremendous achievements are the success in sturgeon breeding in Sinchang and the reclaimed tideland on Taegye Islet in North Phyongan Province, a nature-remaking project as gigantic as the West Sea Barrage.

Remarkable achievements have been reported from leading industrial establishments such as the Chollima Steel Complex, Hwanghae Iron and Steel Complex, Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex, Musan Mining Complex, Ryongsong Machine Complex, Hungnam Fertilizer Complex, Taean Heavy Machine Complex, Anju Area Coal Complex, Jaeryong Mine, Unryul Mine, Namhung Youth Chemical Complex and Rakwon Machine Complex. The production has been revitalized in light industry and agriculture, too.

There's more….but perhaps that's enough for the moment. I already have the title for my next short story: The Miraculous Event at the Namhung Youth Chemical Complex. And can I offer "Sturgeon Breeding in Sinchang" as a follow-up to "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"?