The full text of the speech is as follows:

Comrades,

How do you do, beloved people in Songchon County?

Today a historic ceremony of breaking the ground with the greatest desire and ambition of our Party to implement the Regional Development 20×10 Policy is being held here in Songchon County, a typical intermediate, mountainous area in our country.

This signals the start of the great struggle for our Party’s ten-year goal for bringing about comprehensive regional rejuvenation.

At this moment when we are making a vigorous step forward towards a grand transformation, a revolution in the regional industry, I picture in my mind’s eye the future of regions that would be transformed year after year. As I do so, I feel the dignity and pride in the forthcoming struggle redoubled, and I am greatly moved by the thought that the people in all cities and counties in provinces, numbering more than ten million, will be provided with substantial benefits in their living. On the other hand, to be frank, I feel remorseful for the fact that we are starting this revolution only now.

But, though this is a gathering held on an empty place with only an artist’s impression unfolded, it will proclaim the beginning of an important revolutionary undertaking aimed at promoting the well-being of the regional people, and this amply proves the historic weight of the undertaking.

Officers and men of the 124th regiments under the services and corps at all levels of our army, who will play a vanguard role in implementing the Regional Development 20×10 Policy,

Members of the non-permanent central promotion committee, officials of ministries, national agencies and other relevant units who are charged with the responsibility for leading and promoting transformation of regions,

And officials and working people from Songchon and other counties in South Phyongan Province who have come here with absolute support to and trust in our Party’s new policy,

On behalf of the Party Central Committee and the government of the Republic, I extend hearty militant greetings to you.

Comrades,

It is indeed a revolution of great significance to build wonderful regional-industry factories with modern equipment and production lines in all cities and counties of the country in the coming ten years.

It was thought to be an inevitable and natural reality for too long that regions lag behind the capital city, but our Party, which regards it as a principle in its activities to pay constant and equal attention to the living of all the people throughout the country and actively solve the problems arising in their living, set removing the centuries-old concept as a historic task it should bravely shoulder however challenging it is.

Proceeding from this, the Eighth Central Committee of the Party set strengthening cities and counties and improving the rural living environment as an important line for the development of the state, and tried to find a way of opening a new era of comprehensive development, in which the capital city and regions would develop together.

And recently, it put forward the Regional Development 20×10 Policy that focuses on the comprehensive modernization of regional-industry factories which must be conducted without fail even by directing unprecedented efforts, and today the first ground breaking ceremony for achieving a brilliant result of the policy has convened.

We are now pushing ahead with large-scale housing construction projects every year in the rural communities across the country as well as in the capital city, while ceaselessly raising the level of our self-defensive strength to protect the sovereignty of the state and independent life of the people and readjusting and developing all sectors of the national economy. Frankly speaking, in this situation it is easier said than done to decide on another ten-year campaign of creation, which is no less challenging than each of them, and open a new front.

But it is also a very pressing affair of the state to rebuild the regional economy on a completely new and advanced basis throughout the country and raise to a higher stage the basic material and cultural standards of living of the regional people, who make up the overwhelming majority of the population of the Republic.

We cannot keep our eyes away from this work any longer, nor can we delay it even a moment. We must press ahead with it unconditionally and persistently and bring about a definite result.

Anyone who is born on this land should lead an abundant and civilized life under the socialist policy of the state, whether they live in the capital city or regions, in towns or mountain villages, and it is the core of the new policy of regional development to see to it that they do so without fail.

The success of the Regional Development 20×10 Policy has already been confirmed.

Above all else, Party members and other people actively approve and support the new policy of the Party and the government.

As the new policy reflects the urgent demands and interests of all the people and clearly indicates the ways of its implementation, everyone welcomes and hails it. In particular, all the regional people accept it as their own and are optimistic that it will surely come true.

This is the most precious and greatest power that defies comparison with any financial resources.

As our people are of the belief that all the policies of the Party and the government are for the promotion of their rights, interests and living and that any work the Party decides on and goes at turns into a happy reality, they unanimously and wholeheartedly support any struggle task it advances, however formidable and challenging it may be.

Thanks to this support, the political climate unique to our state is unusually solid, and all things designed by the Party and the government develop into proud realities with world-amazing, miraculous results.

It is our consistent manner of work to make a scientific and meticulous calculation and plan, and establish a powerful organizational and command system before we launch into all projects for the good of the people.

At the outset of 2024, a year of great importance in developing our revolution and state, the Party Central Committee paid great attention to the historic task of implementing the policy of regional development, making serious studies and holding in-depth discussions repeatedly.

It decided that the state should supply all the funds, manpower, cement and steel needed for the construction of regional-industry factories in cities and counties, and took timely measures for different problems like transport of building materials.

And it found new problems in the course of reconsidering the experience and present situation of Kimhwa County, which can be said to have undergone the preparatory stage or the pilot stage in implementing the policy, and set forth measures for preventing possible deviations.

In order to push ahead with the implementation of the Regional Development 20×10 Policy substantially and powerfully as an undertaking devolving on the Party Central Committee, officials of its Organizational Leadership Department visited the cities and counties, which are designated for construction this year, to learn about their specific situations, and correctly confirmed the orientation of construction after serious discussions with local officials and designers. Meanwhile, organs and a work system were set up so that the Party and the state can supervise and push ahead with this project, and they have begun to work.

Yesterday I went over and ratified a general report on the list of regional-industry factories to be built in 20 cities and counties this year as well as on their scales, sites and production lines.

Now we can say that we have calculated everything and made full preparations for building dozens of regional-industry factories in the 20 cities and counties within this year.

The point is how their construction, which has arisen as an urgent demand of the people and an important task of the Party and the government, will go ahead in reality and how effectively these factories will operate in the future.

Not only the officers and men of the People’s Army and construction officials present here but also all the officials, Party members and other working people across the country should turn out in bringing about a revolution in the regional industry with a single mind and purpose; the capital city and regions, provinces and cities and counties should join their efforts; and the builders should actively cooperate with the sci-tech forces. In this way, I believe, they can achieve successful results in different parts of the country, which we have dreamed of.

Comrades,

The army of the people, the foremost guardian, creator and implementer in our socialist state, has shouldered this difficult, yet honourable revolutionary task. This constitutes another important factor that boosts our conviction in the sure victory of this task.

At this time, too, our Party has put our army at the forefront of the ten-year revolution for shoring up the regional economy.

I feel grateful and reassured to see the militant appearance and soaring spirit of the officers and men of the 124th regiments who went immediately to the areas assigned to them in hearty response to the appeal of the Party Central Committee and have launched into the revolutionary work which would accelerate the new transformation of regions and comprehensive rejuvenation of our state.

Hoping that you will once again implant devoted service for the people into your hearts as your solemn duty, I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize a few points for you who have advanced to the construction sites of regional-industry factories throughout the country.

As I said on February 8, when I visited the Ministry of National Defence on the anniversary of the founding of the army, the Party and the people place great trust in the People’s Army whenever the revolution faces a task of grave importance and utmost urgency, and the latter lives up to their trust and expectation faithfully and without fail this is a glorious tradition inherited from one century into the next.

There is no doubt in the least about the fighting spirit, matchless self-sacrificing spirit and perfect creating style of the People’s Army.

Mindful of being the creators of transformations in the new era, the officers and men dispatched to the 20 cities and counties across the country should ensure the highest quality in building the regional-industry factories, with a determination that they will not let their parents, brothers and sisters in their home towns and villages experience difficulties in their living any longer.

You should never forget even for a moment that each passing day of your struggle should be adorned with proud feats performed for defending the policy of the Party and the state and achieving the people’s happiness.

How substantial transformation the Party’s and the government’s regional development policy would bring to cities and counties, and how tangible changes it would make in every aspect of the people’s living conditions depends on your style of work. Bearing this in mind, you should make every effort to ensure the speed and quality of construction to the full.

Also in implementing the Party’s slogan, “Everything for the improvement of the people’s standard of living!” our service personnel should always be standard-bearers and set excellent examples.

They should display to the full our army’s traits of being thoroughgoing, accurate and perfect in whatever they do pushing ahead with the projects on schedule, meeting the technical and engineering requirements and making maximum economies in the use of materials. By doing so, they will create symbols of our era, which will deserve praises of posterity, in this Songchon County and all other cities and counties in the country.

Your way of struggle should bring about a real improvement in all aspects by giving an influence on the ideological consciousness, work attitude and lifestyle of officials, working people and others in the relevant cities and counties, and turn into their revolutionary spirit, patriotism, creation and optimism as well as the culture of a new era. Only then can the intention of the Party Central Committee in putting you at the forefront of the revolution in the regional industry be implemented and your efforts be proved worthwhile.

I believe that the 20 flags to be awarded to the commanding officers of the 124th regiments today will be adorned with great feats and unparalleled patriotic exploits of our most revolutionary army of the people.

The chief secretary of the Party committee and chairman of the people’s committee of Songchon County and all senior officials in other cities and counties across the country should make strenuous efforts.

They should keep it in mind that they are the direct performers of the great revolutionary undertaking for carrying out the Regional Development 20×10 Policy.

Even though the Party provides all the conditions and the People’s Army undertakes the construction of factories, it is the Party and administrative and economic officials of cities and counties who should take full responsibility for operating the completed factories and ensure that the people under their charge enjoy substantial benefits from them.

Kim Jong Un referred to the policy-oriented requirements set forth by the Party Central Committee in building the regional-industry factories in cities and counties.

…

Chief secretaries of city and county Party committees should attach importance to three-way consultation from the designing stage so that factories can be built to suit the specific conditions of their respective regions and to leave nothing to be desired even in the future. They should also promote effective cooperation with the People’s Army and vigorously enlist the local people to implement the Party policy.

If the factories fail to run on a normal footing owing to shortage of raw and other materials or any other problems after their production buildings have been set up in a splendid way and equipped with modern facilities, it will be a crime before the Party and the state, the people and the soldier builders.

The chief secretaries should direct efforts from now on to creating raw-material bases and building up the technical forces of regional-industry factories, and definitely guarantee the long-term development of their cities and counties on the principle of self-reliance and on the strength of science and technology.

What is most important is that they should turn the process of transforming regional-industry factories into an effective occasion whereby officials and residents in their counties foster a determination and confidence that they should and can create an affluent life and civilization by valuing all the things in their native places, taking care of them with sincerity and making full use of them.

In other words, they should turn the process of implementing the new regional development policy into a process of strengthening the functions and role of regional Party organizations and government organs and of remarkably stepping up the ideological, technological and cultural revolutions.

This is precisely the main purpose set by the Party in drawing up the plan for the revolution in the regional industry.

If one is firm in their resolve to make their life affluent by their own efforts, they can turn a stone into a treasure and there is nothing they cannot do. The chief secretaries of city and county Party committees should prove this first by transforming themselves and through their practice.

Another important point they should never neglect: They should pay particular attention and take thoroughgoing measures so that the work of improving the living standards of the local people bears no negative result of imposing burdens on them.

All the officials and builders who are to engage in building regional-industry factories, projects to be vigorously promoted in cities and counties across the country, should devote their wisdom and energy to the responsible work of successfully carrying out the Party’s plan and improving the people’s living standards, and present proud creations for the country, the revolution and the coming generations.

Comrades,

At the end of this year, we will witness a new transformation in the 20 cities and counties across the country, including here in Songchon County, where modern regional-industry factories, the first fruits of the Regional Development 20×10 Policy, will have been built.

And ten years later solid foundations for regional rejuvenation, a long-cherished desire, will have been laid so that we can feel worthwhile to see the production bases running at full throttle and hear the people’s happy laughter resounding across the country.

Herein lies the boundless pride and honour of our revolutionary work and struggle.

The sacred and great undertaking, which we conducted merely with words for decades and which we did not dare to go at, has really begun now.

For an era of great transformation, in which we will develop the regional economy rapidly in our own way while renovating rural communities,

Towards an era, in which we build the most wonderful factories for the people on our land by our own hands and in which we create the people’s happiness to the full with our own resources and technology,

Let us all build and create with confidence and vigour.

Today commanding officers of the large combined units at all levels, under which 124th regiments have been organized, and commanders of all these regiments are present here.

I appeal to our army through you.

Officers and men of the People’s Army,

Always fight bravely in the vanguard of the struggle to create and defend the people’s happiness and to realize the cherished desire of our Party!

The Party, the country and the people believe in you!

Officers and men, who have turned out in this gigantic struggle today, will be remembered for ever as the most steel-strong fighters representing a great era.

Let us make selfless and devoted efforts for the good of our great people!

Forward for our sacred struggle!