N. Korean leader calls for industrial production befitting IT age

SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited several
industrial factories in a region that borders China and called for their facility
modernization "as required by the IT age," state media said Wednesday.
The report came one day after his trip to a tool factory in the same North
Phyongan Province.
"In order to bring about a radical turn in bearing production it is necessary to
continue dynamically pushing forward the modernization and scientific progress of
the factory," Kim was quoted by the Korean Central News Agency as saying during
his visit to Ryangchaek Bearing Factory, the first leg of his industrial visits.
Kim also visited the Sinuiji Shoes Factory, the Sinuiju Grass Craft Production
Cooperative and the Sinuiju Chicken Farm, the report said.
Kim "made the rounds of the computer control room and the room for incubation and
other places to acquaint himself in detail with its technological updating and
production," the report said of his chicken farm visit.
Workers at the chicken farm greatly contributed to improving the people's diet,
he said.
The workers "have made progressive leaps in the production of meat and eggs by
intensifying the technological updating of the production processes and putting
the breeding on a scientific basis as required by the IT age," Kim said.
Kim was accompanied by Workers' Party secretary Kim Ki-nam and party department
directors, Pak Nam-gi and Jang Song-thaek, who is also his brother-in-law and a
powerful administrator of state affairs.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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