State media KCNA reported on Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un celebrated the completion a new fish farming facility in the east and called for the development of rural areas. This was amid concern over the chronic economic problems.

Kim attended the inauguration of the Sinpho City Offshore Farm, which was built in the coastal city where the country operates a sub base and has also tested submarine-launched missiles.

The farm was designed to grow, process, and sell scallops, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins. It was the centrepiece of Kim’s “Regional Development 20x10 policy” which aims to build modernised factories every year in at least 20 rural counties for the next ten years. Kim visited the site multiple times.

Kim described the farm as a "piquant creation" for the transformation of the region, which was only a white sandy beach with pines five months earlier. He called for more progress to be made in rural development across the country.

According to KCNA, he said at the ceremony: "This is the beginning of an important undertaking to ensure steady progress on socialist construction. We aim to achieve simultaneous and multiple developments nationwide."

Kim has been working to modernise rural communities and the farming industry, as the economy of the country is heavily dependent on agriculture. However, the country continues to struggle with food shortages due to sanctions imposed over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and seasonal effects from natural disasters.

KCNA reported separately that Kim, at a Workers' Party year-end meeting held between Dec. 23 and 27, urged the speeding up of the initiative, as well as the opening of another fish farm for a test programme based on Sinpho's experience. (Reporting and editing by Hyonhee Shim; Chris Reese).

(source: Reuters)