As a part of our sequence analyzing the socioeconomic disparity between Pyongyang and different cities in North Korea, we’re trying on the variations North Koreans would possibly expertise, relying on the place they stay, throughout a wide range of indicators together with: entry to electrical energy, telecommunications, business, transportation infrastructure, and schooling. To take action, we utilized two examples as proxies: Haeju, a consultant mid-sized provincial capital, and Kim Hyong Jik, a distant, rural county seat.
The primary article checked out North Korea’s new five-year financial plan unveiled by Kim Jong Un on the Ninth Occasion Congress in February 2026. And in a second, we explored the nation’s rural housing and rural industrial growth initiatives of the previous few years.
When Kim Jong Un kicked off the 20×10 regional growth coverage in 2024, he framed the initiative as citing the usual of residing in “backward” rural areas. Utilizing industrial satellite tv for pc imagery, state media evaluation, accounts of escapees and different information, these articles try and characterize how rural areas is likely to be “backward” compared with different much less distant areas.
This installment will take a look at business all through North Korea—what sorts of factories and industries are widespread in every space and the way the 20×10 regional industrial plan has impacted Kim Hyong Jik, Haeju, and Pyongyang.
Business and the 20×10 Regional Growth Plan
When Kim Jong Un introduced the 20×10 regional growth plan, the first focus was on gentle business. Within the first yr, three factories have been inbuilt every of the areas chosen: a clothes, a foodstuffs, and a day by day requirements manufacturing facility. The thought of constructing regional industrial bases was to bolster native economies, decreasing their dependence on the central state.
Just a few years into the 20×10 plan, the general idea of regional industrial capability was expanded, as mirrored on the 9th Employees’ Occasion Congress. The assembly readout outlined Kim’s need to improve key industries over the forthcoming five-year plan, significantly citing metals, chemical compounds, electrical energy, and equipment. This broadening of business objectives—each throughout the 20×10 framework and extra broadly—displays the regime’s curiosity in increasing home manufacturing capabilities.
Whereas the reporting from the 9th Occasion Congress was restricted, extra objectives have been set in subsequent conferences. A North Korean state media readout from the March 2026 Supreme Folks’s Meeting known as for rising the nation’s industrial output by 1.5 instances in the course of the subsequent five-year plan. Nevertheless, it additionally acknowledged that power challenges—particularly, electrical energy and coal—are standing in the way in which of the nation’s potential to satisfy this purpose. This implies better efforts to extend power manufacturing and provide are additionally a vital part of each the 20×10 coverage and broader industrial growth plans, even when these particulars haven’t been externally disclosed.
Earlier research have proven that 20×10 plan implementation has met its annual objectives to-date. North Korea has proven time and time once more that development of buildings is feasible, even with restricted assets. However bodily development is barely a fraction of the bigger image. It’s unclear whether or not these efforts can truly construct native industrial capability that may be sustained by way of native provide chains given the shortage of assets, gear, and industrial know-how in lots of of those rural areas.
The excessive expectations, coupled with real-world structural constraints, are a recipe for frustration—at each the state and native ranges—and potential public resentment regardless of efforts seemingly geared toward elevating residing requirements. Particularly, the state has shifted accountability for sustaining manufacturing to the native communities, requiring them to supply their very own supplies and inputs. Whereas the purpose could also be to encourage the event of native provide chains, no help seems to be supplied to the localities to perform this, imposing a expensive and logistically difficult burden onto them. Failure to function the factories and meet demand quotas are prone to be criticized by the state and may lead residents to see the factories as not “well worth the hassle” and in the end not benefitting the inhabitants because the purported intention.
Pyongyang
Pyongyang is clearly not the first goal for bolstering native business; nonetheless, the town and its surrounding areas have benefitted from the 20×10 regional industrial plan. Business in Pyongyang ranges from consumable items to extra highly-technical manufacturing, significantly tied to protection business, starting from semiconductors to missiles and weapons manufacturing. Notably, some factories are considered dual-use. The South Korean authorities estimates that North Korea is working over 300 munitions factories underneath totally different cowl names. The safety afforded to the realm because of the metropolis’s capital standing and presence of elites lends itself effectively to the capital being a hub of protection manufacturing.
Suburbs of the capital have obtained factories and different services as a part of the 20×10 initiative. In December 2025, Kim Jong Un, alongside together with his spouse and daughter, attended the inauguration ceremony of Kangdong’s flagship 20×10 factories along with a hospital and leisure complexes. His attendance at this ceremony demonstrates a sure stage of significance of this explicit space, as Kim has attended only a few opening ceremonies every venture yr. This particular consideration may very well be because of the space’s proximity to key army services, additionally elevating questions on whether or not these factories might have some twin use function.
The availability chain points present in different 20×10 areas are seemingly not skilled in Pyongyang. Because the nation’s capital, with probably the most strong transportation infrastructure within the nation, it’s seemingly that constant central authorities assist is being supplied from development by way of operation at factories and services throughout Pyongyang and its suburbs.
Haeju
Haeju has predominantly been related to chemical factories and the previous Haeju Cement Manufacturing facility, which closed within the early 2000s. It has additionally been highlighted in state media for its agricultural equipment and manufacturing services. A give attention to regional growth has introduced extra factories to the town (or renovated present ones), particularly, the Mt. Suyang Eunha Normal Foodstuffs Manufacturing facility, Haeju Tile Manufacturing facility, Haeju Agricultural Equipment Manufacturing facility, and factories producing faculty uniforms and youngsters’s footwear. The Haeju Pupil Footwear Manufacturing facility was accomplished in December 2024, though not explicitly known as out as a 20×10 manufacturing facility.
Positioned on the west coast of the nation, Haeju is residence to the second largest port on the coast, behind Nampho Port. It was as soon as proposed as a Particular Financial Zone to deal with cargo linked to the Kaesong Industrial Complicated, however this by no means got here to fruition.
Not too long ago, North Korea opened its largest photo voltaic farm in Haeju within the spring of 2026. The dimensions of the farm—with a complete output of 10,000 kilowatts—is supposed to function a mannequin for different photo voltaic initiatives all through the nation. This installment is probably going meant to generate electrical energy to energy factories and different services within the space. Past serving as a “mannequin” photo voltaic farm, this facility seemingly signifies wishes to create some stage of power independence to alleviate any pressure that development and operation of latest factories place on the already-weak electrical energy grid. This suggests that factories in Haeju could also be higher capable of function constantly than different areas of the nation, reminiscent of Kim Hyong Jik.
Haeju’s factories are sometimes cited in state media for science and technological developments. Within the chemical realm, the Haeju Calcium Carbonate Manufacturing Station has been hailed in state media as implementing a course of developed at Haeju Kim Jong Thae College of Training to fabricate an edible type of calcium carbonate, typically used as a calcium complement. Haeju Chemical Manufacturing facility was reported to have constructed a brand new course of to enhance paint high quality.
Factories in Haeju have additionally been talked about in a optimistic gentle as producing supplies to enhance regional growth, just like the Haeju Brick Manufacturing facility and close by Suyangsan Ending Constructing Supplies Manufacturing facility. A September 2025 KCNA article highlighted an gear meeting station in Haeju “manufacturing related gear and gear wanted for manufacturing processes to be constructed to swimsuit regional traits.”
Primarily based on state media alone, it’s evident that Hajeu has a number of factors of business that the state retains a watch on, and sometimes those who require extra technically-complex manufacturing than what different 20×10 services could also be chargeable for. Factories in Haeju look like a lot better geared up to satisfy manufacturing and development objectives than areas like Kim Hyong Jik. Though, given the economic base that existed there earlier than the 20×10 initiative started, the new services seem to do little to bolster the area’s manufacturing capability.
Kim Hyong Jik
Because of its distant location and lack of accessibility to the remainder of the nation, Kim Hyong Jik county doesn’t have anyone attribute business to level to and, the truth is, few factories within the county have been recognized or mentioned in state media.
Earlier than the COVID-19 border closures, the county’s proximity to China made cross-border smuggling a typical observe and type of financial exercise for its residents. In any other case, agricultural manufacturing has pushed the realm’s economic system.
In 2024, the primary yr of the 20×10 regional growth plan, Kim Hyong Jik county was the one space in Ryanggang province chosen to obtain a primary spherical of factories. Throughout the plan, one area from every Ryanggang and Pyongyang are chosen annually, whereas different areas choose two areas per yr.
In February 2025, Korean Central Tv broadcast a characteristic on the opening ceremonies for the Kim Hyong Jik Normal Manufacturing facility, which incorporates factories for: foodstuffs, day by day requirements, clothes, and paper. In accordance with RFA reviews, the factories have been anticipated to be accomplished throughout summer season 2024, however have been delayed, first by the announcement of three extra services and a July flood that broken railways and have become the federal government’s precedence. This resulted in useful resource shortages, like cement, rebar, and ultimately even electrical energy—because the state shifted the burden of sourcing additional development provides onto the county. The factories have been ultimately accomplished in February 2025 and the ceremony was closely promoted on state tv.
This instance illustrates the challenges of working in rural areas of North Korea. Not one of the setbacks, useful resource constraints, or development delays are new or distinctive to this venture. Even on well-resourced, high-profile initiatives just like the Pyongyang Normal Hospital and the Wonsan-Kalma Seashore Resort, development delays have been widespread for a variety of causes. Nevertheless, for a poor rural county like Kim Hyong Jik, a number of elements seemingly added to the delays, reminiscent of scarce present assets (materials and financial), inadequate energy provide, and underdeveloped transport infrastructure to even herald new supplies and provides. This demonstrates how rather more troublesome industrial growth is for an space like Kim Hyong Jik versus Haeju and Pyongyang, the place a scarcity of financial infrastructure creates inordinate disadvantages for the county in attempting to realize the state’s objectives, even with out outdoors elements like pure disasters.
Past the development, some reviews assert that the factories in Kim Hyong Jik haven’t been capable of sustain manufacturing and cite poor high quality of the manufactured items, regardless of the state media reviews boasting manufacturing development and high-quality merchandise. Furthermore, anecdotal proof suggests residents nonetheless depend on markets for the merchandise being produced within the new factories, typically imported from Hyesan, defeating the aim of localized business. Whereas the fact of the scenario can’t be confirmed by way of satellite tv for pc imagery or corroborated with ample on-the-ground reviews, it is simple to see how these distant areas, missing authorities help, would battle to realize the identical productions metrics as seen in greater and extra essential cities.
This analysis was sponsored by The UniKorea Basis.
