Video PlayerClose

PYONGYANG, July 11 (Xinhua) -- At the construction site of the Pyongyang General Hospital, heavy trucks are going in and out and workers are sweating on scaffolding. A modern general hospital is rising up out of the ground in the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

As a major project for commemorating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the Pyongyang General Hospital broke ground in March, and its construction "is going on in a three-dimensional way," with "frameworks, brickworks of outer walls, open caisson project for the intake of geothermal water launching simultaneously at sick ward and outpatients' ward," according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

This bustling scene is a microcosm of the DPRK's vigorous promotion of socialist economic construction through self-reliance.

Kim Jong Un, the top leader of the DPRK, stressed at the Third Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the WPK held in April 2018 that it is the new strategic line of the WPK to concentrate all efforts of the whole party and country on the socialist economic construction.

Subsequently, against the backdrop of a sharp decrease in international trade and overseas investment, the DPRK overcame various difficulties and made new achievements in fields such as industry, agriculture, education, medical care and culture and education.

On Dec. 2, 2019, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the township of Samjiyon County in the northern part of the country, marking the completion of the county's construction. The Samjiyon County, where Kim's father was born, is "an example of a mountainous modern town, an epitome of modern civilization and created a model of successfully realizing the Party's idea of local construction," the KCNA said.

In January, the Yangdok County Hot Spring Cultural Recreation Center in South Pyongan Province officially opened for business. As a comprehensive hot spring cure center and a multi-functional sports and cultural complex, it has been popular among customers. The center was built in less than one year by the soldiers of the People's Army and other builders, which proves the ability and determination of the DPRK people to overcome all severe challenges, according to the KCNA.

In recent years, the DPRK has also made great efforts to boost the development of industries including agriculture, aquaculture, food processing and tourism, so as to continuously raise people's living standards.

In order to improve labor productivity, various kinds of labor competitions are held all over the country, which are the DPRK's secret to overcoming many challenges and difficulties and achieving greater and faster development, according to the official newspaper Rodong Sinmun.

At the 5th Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee of the WPK held in December 2019, Kim said "the key front in the offensive for frontal breakthrough today is economic front."

The immediate task in the economic field is to rearrange the economic foundation and fully tap all the possible production potential to meet the demands of economic development and people's livelihood, he added.