North Korea is highlighting a cement plant in Sangwon County, North Hwanghae Province, which has backed Kim Jong-un's construction tasks with outstanding production increases, as a model that all residents should follow since the 9th party congress.
On the 19th, the Labor Party's organ Rodong Sinmun ran a front-page editorial titled "Beacon of Sangwon" on the achievements of the Sangwon Cement Complex and urged all residents, saying, "Let everyone, everywhere learn from Sangwon's spirit, Sangwon's mettle, and Sangwon's example."
On the front page on the 18th, it carried an editorial titled "Let us stride more broadly and more vigorously toward a new transformation following the 'beacon of Sangwon,'" and for a second day held up the Sangwon Cement Complex as a model case.
The editorial repeatedly used the term "Sangwon spirit" and stressed learning the plant's "boundless loyalty" in unconditionally carrying out the Labor Party's order to boost production.
The paper said, "Construction is an important sector that drives and represents the nation's progress, development, and prosperity, and in this, cement is ammunition," adding, "Sangwon is not only an arsenal of construction but also a theater of feats that created a precious spirit to move toward greater miracles in a turbulent era and, with that, inspired the entire country."
It said the plant "has continued to break the record for peak production years," and explained that, in particular, last year it "set a miraculous target of increasing production to as much as 10 times the previous year's increase and charged ahead boldly."
It went on, "Sangwon's power, which knows no impossibility, is the power of ideology," adding, "When all officials, like those of Sangwon, value the power of ideology and, with that might5, reach every household, we will take bigger and more vigorous strides along the path to victory indicated by the 9th party congress."
The Sangwon Cement Complex is a key cement production base in North Korea with an annual capacity of 2 million tons (t). Kim Jong-un, who has recently led large-scale civil works such as the "Pyongyang 50,000 dwellings construction," visited the site first on the 1st, right after the Labor Party congress, to encourage the workers.
This is seen as an attempt to actively use the plant as domestic propaganda material to spur fulfillment of party congress tasks. According to the editorial, Kim Jong-un sent gifts to the plant 10 days after the on-site guidance.
Putting forward a "model unit" that faithfully carried out the party's policy line and calling for imitation is one of North Korea's representative mass-mobilization strategies. Last year, it also promoted the "Gangwon Province spirit" by holding up Gangwon Province as a symbolic model of local self-reliance.