The government designated the city and its surroundings as a trial area in Juche 82 (1993) and set up a maritime conservation research centre equipped with scientific means for surveying and analyzing environment in this area of several hundred square kilometers, which covers the basin of the River Taedong in and around the city and waters down the West Sea Barrage.

Pak Ki Sok, director of the West Sea of Korea Marine Institute, told KCNA:

"We established a computer network connecting all scientific institutions and universities in the city to the centre. Then we worked out an all-round environmental monitoring plan and new evaluation methods while improving the ability of analyzing environment.

Scientists and technicians of the centre and other units have collected in a systematic way data on the environment in the trial area after establishing a comprehensive information management system.

The centre also built up its professional staff through reeducation and short courses at a maritime conservation scientists training centre set up at Kim Il Sung University.

Since 2007 the maritime environmental monitoring plan has been put into practice.

Meanwhile, we carried out the work to partition coastal and water areas according to the range of their use so as to raise their effectiveness in environmental conservation and resource development."