hankyoreh

North Korean Cabinet premier

By Kim Kyu-won, staff reporter

North Korean Cabinet premier Choe Yong-lim has been on a nonstop campaign this year visiting sites in his country and seeing the situation on the ground. Experts saw this as a sign of imminent reforms and openness, while the South Korean government said it was still too early to tell.

The Korean Central News Agency reported on July 23 that Choe had visited the Namhung Youth Chemical Complex to examine the situation there. According to the report, Choe examined a construction pattern for the complex’s planned power supply and held a council meeting to address the matter of ensuring sufficient electricity there, as well as organizational efforts to finish the construction project as soon as possible.

Choe also visited the Oryu Vegetable Co-op Farm in Pyongyang’s Sadongg district and examined Taechon Farm in Rinsan Country, North Hwanghae province.

Choe’s activities under the Kim Jong-un regime contrast sharply with last year, when Kim Jong-il was still in control. A recent analysis of his disclosed activities for 2011 and 2012 by Sejong Institute senior researcher Jung Sung-jang showed a total of 36 field inspections and examinations by Choe between January and June of this year, an increase of 2.6 times over the 14 during the same months in 2011.

April saw the fewest inspections, two, while May had the most with eleven. The reason for the small number in April had to do with events to honor the centenary of Kim Il-sung’s birth and officially launch the Kim Jong-un regime. Analysts said the active push in May came in an effort to hasten local inspections once the regime changes had been implemented.

Choe made three visits in January, six in February, eight in March, and six in June.

According to experts, the sharp rise in inspections is part of an effort to lay the groundwork for future moves toward reforms and openness.

“If your goal is to reform the economy, then figuring out the present situation is of paramount importance,” Jung said.

He added that the reason Choe, rather than Kim Jong-un himself, carried out the inspections was because locals could conceal problems if the leader visited in person.

University of North Korean Studies professor Yang Mu-jin said the Cabinet premier seemed to be following Kim’s orders to examine the situation on the ground.

“It makes more sense for the Cabinet [administration] to take action rather than the party [Worker’s Party of Korea] when the aim is reform and openness,” Yang said.

But the South Korean government remained circumspect. A Unification Ministry official said, “We have seen a few different moods and styles in North Korea since the Kim Jong-un regime took over. It’s premature to talk about reforms and openness when no concrete steps have been taken.”

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