Electricity-starved N Korea opens new power station

Electricity-starved North Korea said it had completed another hydroelectric power station, one of the key construction projects timed to mark a major anniversary this month. The Huichon station will ease the electricity shortage in the capital Pyongyang 120 kilometres (75 miles) to the south, protect farmland and homes along the Chongchon river from flooding and ensure water supply to industry, the state news agency said on Friday. The nation has officially commended almost 58,000 people -- military personnel, builders, officials and designers -- who completed the project before the April 15 centenary of the birth of President Kim Il-Sung, it said. The impoverished but nuclear-armed state is planning huge celebrations to mark the anniversary of its late founding leader, including a satellite launch widely seen overseas as a disguised missile test banned under UN resolutions. Workers completed the Huichon plant in just three years rather than the normal 10, the news agency said, and the ruling party praised their "heroic feats". Premier Choe Yong-Rim, in a speech at a ceremony Thursday, also credited the "wise guidance and meticulous care" of former leader Kim Jong-Il, who died in December, and of his son and successor Kim Jong-Un. Work in the showpiece capital is continuing round the clock on apartment blocks and other construction projects timed to mark the anniversary, according to a foreign resident. Analysts say the celebrations and the projects are designed to build loyalty to the Kim dynasty which has ruled since the country's creation in 1948, and in particular to the young and untested new leader. The North in January 2008 announced plans to build 100,000 apartments in high-rise blocks in the city's Mansudae area by this year, despite continuing serious food shortages nationwide. Soldiers, students and even local staffers from foreign embassies have been drafted to help with the work. Major construction projects in the 1980s and 1990s, such as the Juche Tower, the Monument to the Party Foundation, the West Sea Floodgate, and the Arch of Triumph, were presented as achievements of Kim Jong-Il.