hankyoreh

A supervisor of the Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture, a journalist, and four printing technicians arrived on September 8 to a printing press in Pyongyang, which is being restored by the foundation to provide notebooks to North Korean children. When they arrived, the ‘Pyongyang Children’s Learning Plant’ was nearly quiet, with few machines in normal operation yet.

At the beginning of this year, The Hankyoreh pledged to turn a rundown printing press in Pyongyang into a student notebook-printing facility by October. The pledge came after North Korea offered to help the Hankyoreh’s cultural foundation build the press.

Though the political climate of late on the Korean peninsula has been unfavorable due to rising tension between North Korea and the United States, the construction of the printing press is still on schedule. In April, the foundation confirmed a budget of W1.5 billion (US$1.6 million) to help build the plant. But the budget will not be enough to get the press running at full capacity.

On the first floor, some presses were already in operation, printing out notebooks. On the second floor, workers were busy binding books with their hands, as bookbinding machines were not in service yet due to lack of funds. The plant is the largest among three notebook plants in Pyongyang. However, notebook production at the plant is still at a trickle, also due to insufficient funding.

Printing facilities sent by the foundation arrived at the plant hours before the delegation’s arrival. The South had planned to provide printing facilities, paper, and ink, but agreed to offer plate-making and bookbinding devices as well after a meeting with the plant’s supervisor. Beginning October 12, eight South Korean printing technicians will spend a month in Pyongyang to install the facilities and transfer technology to North Korean workers.

If the plan is progressed under its original time frame, North Korea’s elementary and middle school students will use notebooks from the plant starting next year. The plant will have a production capacity of 30,000 notebooks per hour.

"The printing facility is a start. But it is imperative that we continue to supply paper and ink," said Park Jin-won, a secretary for the foundation. For readers who want to support the plan, please call the foundation at (02) 706-6008.

The Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture was established in July 1996, based on W500 million in seed money and property donated by late businessman Kim Cheol-ho. Since its founding, some 32,000 people across the nation have contributed to the foundation.