North Korea has been promoting tidal flat land reclamation, which began under Kim Il-sung, as a national task as part of the ‘Great Nature Transformation Project’ even after Kim Jong-un took power, in order to resolve the geographical condition of having a lot of mountainous terrain and a lack of farmland. Among the 12 important highlands for North Korean people’s economic development, grain production is listed as the first highland, and efforts are being made to secure new farmland through tidal flat land reclamation.
The European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-2B used recent satellite images to examine the status of seawall construction at three locations on the coasts of North and South Pyongan provinces where the west coast tidal flats are being created.
◆Pyongyangbuk-do Mado tidal flat embankment construction
There is a wide mud flat along the beach in Jeongju, North Pyongan Province. Construction is in full swing on a seawall of several tens of miles that connects this area to Ae-do (Island). Nearly a year after construction began at the end of 2023, embankment construction has progressed over a total of 12 km. The amount of work involved in constructing the Mourning Tidal Flat is massive, and North Korea reported that once construction is completed, thousands of new lands will be created that will contribute to grain production. A lot of soil and stones have been secured by blasting nearby inland mountains, and construction of feldspar and drainage gates is in progress. Based on satellite photos on October 31, a seawall was built in a section of 11,850m.
◆Pyeongnam Anseok tidal flat embankment construction
Embankment construction is also in full swing at the Anseok tidal flats in Oncheon-gun, South Pyongan Province. Following the 850m construction of water dam inside the tidal flat, the 3,300m long seawall was added at the bottom compared to a year ago. Considering that the embankment’s direction is south, it appears that a new tidal flat will be built below. A new 2,000m long embankment was also built above the Anseok tidal flat.
◆ Coastal tidal flat embankment construction in Pyeongwon-gun, Pyeongnam
Construction of tidal flats is also underway on the coasts around Hwajin-ri and Sinsong-ri in Pyeongwon-gun, South Pyongan Province. New embankments with a total length of 3,200 m were created in three locations.
North Korea began reclamation of tidal flats starting with Bidan Island at the mouth of the Yalu River in 1958, and proposed the ‘natural transformation theory’ through Kim Il-sung’s teachings in April 1963. In addition, at the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 6th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in October 1981, four major natural improvement projects, including the reclamation of 300,000 jeongbo tidal flats, were resolved. The tidal flats created by filling up the coastal sea are mainly used for the construction of salt farms, fish farms, and farms.
Source: www.dailynk.com
