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An image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visiting the construction site of Pyongyang General Hospital published by the Rodong Sinmun on July 20. (KCNA website screenshot, Yonhap News)

On a visit to the construction site of the Pyongyang General Hospital, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “severely rebuked” the commission overseeing the construction project “for burdening the people by encouraging all kinds of ‘assistance’ [. . .] in supplying equipment and materials,” North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun reported in a cover story on July 20. The article suggests that the Kim regime has lost a considerable amount of public backing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state-run newspaper quoted Kim as saying that “the construction coordination commission is organizing [the] economy in a careless manner with no budget for the construction properly set up, yet.”

“He said in the [strongest] terms that if such situation is left to go on, the noble plan and intention of the Party [. . .] could be distorted and the image of the Party be tarnished.”

The Rodong Sinmun added that Kim had “instructed the relevant departments of the Party Central Committee to [. . .] replace all the officials responsible [on the construction coordination commission].”

Kim’s chastisement and correction underline the severe discontent felt by North Koreans under pressure to provide “voluntary” assistance. Project managers are trying to make up for a shortage of materials whose supply has been interrupted both by US and UN sanctions and by the closure of the North Korea-China border amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The North Korean authorities closed all national borders when they pivoted to an “emergency state disease control system” in late January; six months later, the borders remain closed.

During a speech at the hospital’s groundbreaking ceremony on Mar. 17, Kim called the project a “particularly important and worthwhile [. . .] fighting task.”

“We should turn out as one in the effort to ensure that the project is completed without fail by the Party’s 75th founding anniversary,” Kim said in that speech.

Then on July 2, during the 14th Enlarged Meeting of the Political Bureau of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Kim instructed officials “to brilliantly complete the hospital which would provide the people with the most advanced medical service, to be of the world standard.”

Along with Kim’s criticism, the Rodong Sinmun also reported his words of encouragement. “He highly appreciated the builders for their labor feats, saying that lots of things have been done so far and the construction has made exceptionally rapid progress despite [the] difficult situation.”

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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