North Korea is heavily promoting the achievements of its local industrial factory construction under the “Regional Development 20×10 Policy,” but in reality, these factories are facing production disruptions and quality control issues. Amid these challenges, some regions have reportedly deployed prosecution agencies to conduct inspections aimed at pressuring factories to normalize their operations.
A Daily NK source in Ryanggang province recently reported that “since Aug. 12, the provincial prosecutor’s office has been inspecting the Kimhyongjik county comprehensive factory (local industrial factory) under orders from the provincial party committee.” The source explained that “the purpose is to identify the causes behind the poor production at food and daily goods factories, and to ensure production normalization ahead of the Party Foundation Day (Oct. 10th).”
The Kimhyongjik county local industrial factory was the 20th and final facility completed in the first year (2024) of the Regional Development 20×10 Policy implementation.
The Regional Development 20×10 Policy is a massive state project aimed at building modern local industrial factories in 20 counties each year for 10 years, with the goal of raising people’s basic material and cultural living standards. Leader Kim Jong Un, who announced this policy during his State of the Union address at the Supreme People’s Assembly in January last year, has emphasized it as opening a new era of regional self-development and touts it as a major political achievement.
Factory operations fall short of promises
According to the source, the Kimhyongjik county industrial factory, completed in February this year, supplied people with various goods at state prices in April to commemorate Kim Il Sung’s birthday, North Korea’s biggest holiday. Items included face soap (2,500 won), toothpaste (2,000 won), toothbrushes (1,000 won), sneakers (20,000 won), corn oil (12,000 won), soybean oil (15,000 won), and underwear (8,000 won).
However, people subsequently criticized the poor quality of these products, describing the underwear as unusably poor and sarcastically questioning who would buy such low-quality domestic clothing.
Even worse, the factory has essentially shut down since then. The source noted that the food factory operates only about one week per month, with unclear distribution of its limited production.
This reveals that local industrial factories are not only failing to operate properly but their products are providing no benefit to people’s daily lives.
The source pointed out that people continue purchasing basic necessities at traditional markets, explaining that previous factories had similarly failed to achieve proper production levels and never meaningfully improved daily life.
Given this situation, when the provincial prosecutor’s office recently began inspecting the Kimhyongjik county local industrial factory, local residents expressed resignation that factory officials would face renewed pressure.
The source explained that prosecutor involvement signals serious intent to punish officials, with inspections targeting formalistic management approaches and illegal product distribution.
State media maintains rosy picture
However, North Korean media continues to focus on promoting the achievements of local industrial factories. The Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported on page one of its Aug. 18 edition that “the new local industrial factories in 20 cities and counties have achieved remarkable growth in production and net income from April—when they entered full production after dozens of days of trial production—through July, compared to the same period last year when previous factories were operating.”
The paper also claimed that “various high-quality products manufactured at modern local industrial factories are being regularly supplied to residents through commercial networks” and that “stores in the 20 cities, counties, and rural villages are bustling daily with people coming to purchase goods produced at their local new factories.”
While North Korean authorities are packaging their achievements with impressive statistics and promoting them extensively, the reality that residents actually experience involves low-quality products and shuttered factories, according to the source. The more North Korean authorities highlight these hollow achievements, the more apparent the gap between propaganda and reality becomes.