DPRK state media reported on 1 March (Friday) that Korean Workers’ Party [KWP], Korean People’s Army [KPA], the DPRK Government and various social organizations participated in the planting of tree in observance of “tree-planting day.” KCNA reported that “with this day as an occasion, many trees of good species have been planted in different parts of the country, including the Arboretum of the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun and Moran Hill in Pyongyang” and that the “Ministry of Land and Environmental Conservation and other forestry fields channeled big efforts to providing saplings of species suitable to different zones and plots, paying attention to increasing the rate of rooting.”
Minister of the People’s Armed Forces Gen. Kim Kyok Sik speaks a meeting of KPA personnel prior to planting trees near Ku’msusan in Pyongyang (Photo: KCTV screengrab)
KPA service members and officers (L) and senior KPA officials (R) attend a meeting before planting trees near Ku’msusan Memorial Palace of the Sun (Photo: KCTV screengrabs)
KPA service members and officers plant trees in the parks and arboretum near Ku’msusan on 1 March 2013 (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)
On 1 March KPA service members and officers held a meeting in the park and arboretum near the Ku’msusan Memorial Palace of the Sun. Attending the meeting were members of the KPA’s high command including Minister of the People’s Armed Forces Gen. Kim Kyok Sik and 1st Vice Minister of the People’s Armed Forces and Director of the KPA General Logistics Department VMar Hyon Chol Hae, along with KPA service members along with cadets and students of military schools “at all levels.” Gen. Kim delivered the meeting’s report which was followed by a speaking program where it was said “Generalissimo Kim Jong Il put forward the KPA in the mass tree-planting movement, true to Generalissimo Kim Il Sung’s intention of building a prosperous country. Mapping out a grand plan of the land development, Kim Jong Un made sure that modern tree nurseries were built, and energetically led the work for spreading new species of lawn to the whole country.” According to KCNA “they called on all the service personnel to turn out in the tree planting, true to the intention of Kim Jong Un and fully display their patriotic enthusiasm.” After the speeches, the meeting participants planted trees around Ku’msusan.
Jon Yong Nam (L), Chairman of the Kim Il Sung (Socialist) Youth League Central Committee, addresses a meeting (C) prior to planting trees (R) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)
On 1 March DPRK state media reported that “working people and school youth and children across the country turned out in the patriotic work with a single mind to successfully embody Kim Jong Il’s patriotism for turning the country into the people’s paradise and a socialist fairyland in thick verdure on the occasion of March 2, the Tree-Planting Day.” Members of the DPRK’s central leadership attended various tree planting events in and around Pyongyang, and tree planting events were held in North P’yo’ngan Province, South Hamgyo’ng Province, North Hamgyo’ng Province and the city of Wo’nsan, Kangwo’n Province. Attending events in and around Pyongyang were Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] Presidium President Kim Yong Nam, DPRK Cabinet Premier Choe Yong Rim, KWP Secretary and SPA Chairman Choe Tae Bok, SPA Presidium Vice President Yang Hyong Sop, DPRK Vice Premier and State Planning Commission Chairman Ro Tu Chol and Chief Secretary of the Pyongyang City (municipal) KWP Committee Mun Kyong Dok. Speaking programs were held prior to the tree planting activities.
DPRK Premier Choe Yong Rim, KWP Secretary Pak To Chun and other officials (L) attend a meeting prior to planting trees in Pyongyang (R) on 1 March 2013 (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)
KWP Secretary Choe Thae Bok and Chief Secretary of the Pyongyang City KWP Committee Mun Kyong Dok and other officials (L) attend a Korean Democratic Women’s Union tree planting event (R). KDWU Chairwoman Ro Song Sil (C) delivers a report. (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)
Tree planting activities held in the provinces on 1 March 2013 (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)
According to the speeches noted “President Kim Il Sung, together with general secretary Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Suk, an anti-Japanese war hero, climbed Moran Hill in Pyongyang on March 2, Juche 35 (1946) and called for planting many trees on mountains” and “called upon all people to turn out in the spring tree-planting campaign with one mind of ardent patriotism to plant and grow many trees in the country.” The speeches also noted that in March 2012 Kim Jong Un “personally planted a tree he took there, they said, underscoring the need to turn the mountains and fields into thick and green socialist fairyland” when he visited the KPA Strategic Rocket Force Command (identified by KCNA as “a unit of the People’s Army”).
Kim Il Sung (L), Kim Jong Il (C) and Kim Jong Un (at the Strategic Rocket Force Command) ceremoniously planting trees over the years (Photos: Foreign Languages Publishing House, KCNA-Yonhap, Rodong Sinmun, Party History Institute)
Filed under: Central Committee, Central Military Committee, central party life, Choe Tae Bok, Choe Yong Rim, colonel general, critical infrastructure, DPRK Cabinet, DPRK Premier, Events Management Section, Gen. Kim Kyok Sik, General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea, Guard Command, Hwang Pyong So, Jon Yong Nam (KISYL), Kim Chong-un inspections, Kim Family, Kim Il Sung Youth League, kim jong suk, Kim Jong Un Visits, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, Kim Sol Song (Kim Sul Song), Kim Yong Jin (DPRK Vice Premier), Kim Yong Nam, kisyl, KJI Personal Secretariat, Korean Democratic Women's Union, Korean People's Army (KPA), Korean Workers' Party (KWP), KPA Large Combined Units, KPA Strategic Rocket Force Command, KPA supernumerary organizations, land and enviroment, Lt. Gen. Kim Rak Gyom (SRFC), Machine Building Industry Department, Mangyo'ngdae Revolutionary School Alumni, Ministry of Land and Environmental Protection, ministry of people's security, Ministry of State Security, Ministry of the People's Armed Forces (MPAF), Mun Kyong Dok, National Defense Commission (NDC), North Korean press, Organization and Guidance Department, Pak To Chun, Party elders, Party History Institute, party life, Political Bureau, Propaganda and Agitation Department, Provincial Party Committees, Ri Myong Gil (UAWK), Ro Song Sil (KDWU), Ro Tu Chol, Secretariat, State Planning Commission (SPC), Supreme People's Assembly, uawk, VMar Hyon Chol Hae, Working Organizations, Yang Hyong Sop, Young Red Guard
