North Korea's Kim opens hydel power project, hospital in back-to-back ceremonies

ANKARA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inaugurated a major hydropower project and a new hospital in back-to-back ceremonies, state media reported on Friday.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the army-people power station at Hoeyang county of Kangwon province, Kim termed the development a "huge" step in exploiting and enlisting the hydraulic resources to solve the local electricity problem, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

This "valuable asset," he added, will bring benefits to the coming generations as well, through a "resolute and uninterrupted struggle with ennobling consciousness and steadfast will to defend the country, their motherland."

The project, Kim further said, will play an important role in constantly expanding the sphere of development of the region.

"This is a great encouragement for us in the struggle towards the next-stage advance and upswing," he maintained.

In his remarks at the opening ceremony of Kangdong County Hospital in the suburbs of capital Pyongyang, the North Korean leader said the healthcare facility is the first entity of modern regional hospitals.

Commending the completion of the construction work in just 280 days, he said the precedent for building in such a short period "cannot be found in our proud history of construction."

He said the country will have six modern medical facilities in all this year, including Pyongyang General Hospital.