North Korea’s Kim Jong-un scolds officials for dirty bathtubs, power station delays in ‘field guidance’ visits
Kim exploded over the dirty hot spring bathtubs at the Onpho holiday camp – which boasts of having been visited by his father and grandfather Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung – calling them ‘worse than fish tanks’
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un berated officials during inspections of a factory, power station and holiday camp, state media reported Tuesday, with analysts saying the reports show nuclear-armed Pyongyang’s desire to focus on economic development.
“Field guidance” visits by the leader are the mainstay of the North’s state media output, with Kim regularly shown giving “on-the-spot guidance” to attentive officials, their notebooks in hand.
After his latest tour to North Hamgyong province, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper doubled its pagination to 12 and devoted nine of them to the trip.
At the Orangchon power station, which is only 70 per cent complete following delays, Kim said he was “so appalled as to be left speechless”, according to the North’s official news agency KCNA.
“He reprimanded the leading officials of the Cabinet for leaving the project to the province only and not paying attention to it,” it said, and he ordered it completed by October next year.
Kim also exploded over the dirty hot spring bathtubs at the Onpho holiday camp – which boasts of having been visited by his father and grandfather Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung – calling them “worse than fish tanks”.