N. Korea pushes for timely rice planting to boost output

SEOUL, May 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is calling on its people to carry out timely rice planting in an effort to boost the country's grain production. The move comes as the country gears up for the spring planting season in the wake of the rare congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) that ended last Monday. In the key gathering, the first of its kind in 36 years, the North announced various economic projects aimed at improving the economic conditions of the impoverished country. In an editorial on Monday, the North's main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, called for the people to concentrate all their effort on a rice-transplanting campaign to gain a breakthrough in grain production. The paper likened rice farming to a "battle" to increase the country's grain production. The Northeast country of more than 20 million has suffered from frequent food shortages as the output of rice, its main staple, has not met demand. A lack of fertilizer, power shortages and poor infrastructure have been cited as causes of the country's troubles. The newspaper said a great victory in the agricultural frontline is a political struggle for the WPK. Despite the severe drought last year, the daily claimed, the country successfully achieved rice planting success and urged all sectors of North Korean society to help out with farming. Then it proposed a term, "the Speed of Mallima," to prompt North Koreans to work harder to attain the country's economic goals as well as rice planting. The term Mallima, which was coined by the North, means a horse that runs 10 times as fast as Chollima, an imaginary horse with wings that can travel at least 400 kilometers a day. North Korea first launched the Chollima Movement in the late 1950s as an economic campaign to rebuild its economy after the 1950-53 Korean War.