A Short History of Tractors in Korean

Nothing says Socialist Progress like the tractor, and the annals of the DPRK's News Agency are full of reports like this one, from December last year, of the Dear Leader visiting the Kanggye General Tractor Plant:

He highly appreciated the shining feats performed by the officials, workers and technicians of the plant, noting that they put the plant on a CNC basis by their own efforts and with their own technology by fully displaying the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and thus creditably played a pioneer's role in pushing back the frontiers of science.

The workers of the plant could perform a miracle in the work to place it on a CNC basis because they fully displayed the indomitable spirit and work style of the people of Jagang Province and the Kanggye Spirit which had grown strong a thousand times through "the Arduous March", the forced march, he said, praising them for their patriotic enthusiasm with which they surpassed the world level of the machine-building industry with persevering will.

So, what a surprise to read this account from a defector involved in North Korea's illicit arms trade interviewed in the Chosun Ilbo:

North Korea's main weapons production base is Kanggye General Tractor Plant No. 26. Before the Korean War, the plant was based in Pyongyang and made Soviet-designed PPSh 41 submachine guns but has since been relocated. Over 10,000 workers there manufacture ammunition and even chemical weapons. The People's Armed Forces is in charge of chemical weapons production. "The Bio-chemical research center affiliated with the military is located next to the Kanggye plant," the defector said. "The toxic gases produced at the research center are loaded onto warheads manufactured at the plant."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il makes a point of visiting the factory two to three times a year. He last paid a visit on Dec. 9, 2009.

The main client, according to this informant? The research centre of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

Comments

[Dom]

Did you mean "Korea" in the title?

[Mick H]

It's a play on the title of a book by Marina Lewycka - "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian". It made quite an impact here, but doubtless not so much over in the US.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0141020520/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_i3?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0SGVBJFF4JX576G40G5Y&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467198433&pf_rd_i=468294