Kwaksan County, Nice Place to Live in

Kwaksan County, situated in the northwestern part of Korea, is so called because it has a mountain surrounded by old mossy walls. The locality lies by the West Sea of Korea, and is made up of mountains and plains. Making an effective use of the physiographic conditions, the county manages its economic life tactfully.

Nearly 20 local industry factories in the county, renovated up to date, have a large share in increasing the revenue of the county and play a great role in improving the life of the local people. In recent years the Kwaksan Paper Mill has invented the method of producing paper by means of a microorganism treatment without using coal, and annually produces hundreds of thousands of notebooks and pocketbooks for schoolchildren in the county, and the Kwaksan Foodstuff Factory has succeeded in putting its soy and bean paste production process on a CNC basis, and equipped the process, previously consuming over one ton of coal daily, with an automatic heat-producing device making no use of coal, making it possible to reduce the production costs and ensure environmental protection and cultured ways in production. In addition, a comprehensive processing workshop has been created at the foodstuff factory for the purpose of producing makkoli, a kind of rice wine native to Korea, vinegar, instant noodle and the like conducive to the improvement of the local people's eating habit.

Progress has been made in grain production and stockbreeding as well. The Roha Cooperative Farm benefits greatly from a production system of cyclic processes designed to serve two ends—production of grain and meat. The farm has many stockbreeding teams, one under each workteam, which help produce tons of barnyard manure a day to fertilize paddy and dry fields for increasing crop yields. A part of grain harvest is allowed for stockbreeding for meat production. The farm also has a more than one hectare-wide fish breeding ground. The county has solar greenhouses for raising cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons, melons, bok choy, cabbages and mushrooms to be sent to greengroceries.

The mountainous county has created pastures in many parts true to the state's plan for actively raising grass-eating domestic animals in the mountainous areas. Among them is the Kwaksan Goat Farm in Kunsan-ri which is farthest from the county seat. The goat farm furnished with up-to-date milk-processing equipment daily produces large quantities of kefir and other dairy products to supply to nurseries, kindergartens, schools and the local residents.

Successes have been achieved in road and dwelling construction. Highways linking counties and roads between the county town and rural communities are kept well and neat. The county town has fine public service and catering facilities—noodle shops, a rabbit-meat restaurant, kefir stalls, Unjong Health Complex, general stores and groceries, in addition to cosy modern dwelling houses. Chojang-ri and almost all other communities have turned into fairyland villages with new-type modern houses built at the sunny foot of hills.

Progress is made in tree planting in the county. The Kwaksan County Forest Management Station has a tree nursery with an area of 20-odd hectares growing saplings of Korea larch, three-leaved pine, nut-pine, Pyongyang poplar, Pyongyang maple, clammy locust and other trees, which are provided to institutions, enterprises and cooperative farms in the county. Over 10 000 hectares of hilly areas have been forested, including 600-odd hectares where nut-pine trees have been planted.

The county has a great many educational and public health establishments enabling its people to benefit in practice from the systems of free education and medical care. As for the public health establishments, the county has 44 people's hospitals and clinics, including the Kwaksan County People's Hospital in the county town, and four sanatoriums.

Chairman Kim Myong Chol of the County People's Committee says, "We'll continue to strive to turn our county into a still better place to live in with a warm love for our country and our home county."

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