Journal of Soviet Ambassador to the DPRK A.M. Puzanov for 13 September 1960

[faded USSR

MFA stamp:   Copy Nº 3

FROM THE JOURNAL OF

A. M. PUZANOV

02153-gs

10 October 1960

30 September 1960

Nº 162

[handwritten in the left margin: "to G. Ye. Samsonov" and two

other illegible names, one followed by "delo [file]] 035" and the other by "17 October 1960"]

JOURNAL

of Soviet Ambassador in the DPRK Cde. A. M. PUZANOV

from 12 through 30 September 1960

Pyongyang

[…]

13 September 1960

I visited the Hwanghae metallurgical works in Song-rim, the province of North Hwanghae, together with Deputy Chief of the MFA 1^st Department Kwon Jun-uk and Embassy Third Secretary D. A. Priyemsky.

On the way to the plant we met Yu Byeong-rim [sic], Deputy Chairman of the provincial Party committee. In a conversation he said that the workers of the province, especially of the metallurgical works, await the arrival of Cde. N. S. Khrushchev in the DPRK and his visit to the Hwanghae works with great impatience. The report of the visit of Cde. N. S. Khrushchev to our country caused a great political and industrial upsurge everywhere. Rallies have been held at all enterprises and organizations and collectives of manual laborers and office workers have accepted increased commitments to produce output In connection with the upcoming arrival. He also said that prospects for the harvest of rice, corn, and other crops in the province are considerably better than last year. Some agricultural cooperatives have already begun harvesting the corn and rice.

The Hwanghae metallurgical works is the largest and only ferrous metallurgical enterprise in the republic at the present time with a full metallurgical cycle. The plant has a 560 m³ blast furnace and a capacity of 250,000 tons of cast iron a year, planned and completely built by Koreans and put into operation on 30 April 1958. The open-hearth shop has five open-hearth furnaces, of which four have a capacity of 100 tons and one of 150 tons. There is also a 600-ton holding furnace. The rolling shop has: a "750" large-size mill for rolling large sections and rails; an "800" plate one-stand mill with a 3000-hp electric motor designed to produce a sheet up to 32 mm thick. The capacity of the mill is 120,000 tons of sheet products a year which was rebuilt with their own resources and put into operation in 1959; two plate duo-mills - 750 mm, with a productivity of up to 50,000 tons of sheet products each; two 750 mm jobbing trio-mills of five stands each arranged in one line with a productivity of 60,000 tons each.

The plant has successfully fulfilled the plan for the first half-year. The production of cast iron has reached 128,000 tons, 105% of the first half-year plan. The annual plan is 240,000 tons against 201,000 in 1944. The production of steel in the first half-year reached 146,000 tons against an annual plan of 280,000 tons. The production of rolled products is 80,500 tons against an annual plan of 170,000 tons (the first half-year plan is 76,000 tons).

During the seven-year plan it is planned to build two blast furnaces at the plant with a capacity of 750 m³ each. By introducing new capabilities and improving the efficiency of the use of the working volume of the blast furnaces from 0.75 to 0.6; at the end of the seven-year plan the plant should bring the production of cast iron up to 1,100,000 tons per year.

The construction of a converter plant at the plant consisting of seven converters of five tons each and a total annual productivity of 120,000 tons of steel is planned. It is planned to bring the annual manufacture of steel to 640,000 tons by the end of the seven-year plan.

By the end of 1967 it is planned for the production of rolled products to reach 760,000 tons. During the seven-year plan it is also planned to build two coke ovens of 65 furnaces each and produce up to 1,400,000 tons of coke a year by the end of the seven-year plan (right now there are two coke ovens at the works).

At the present time more than 13,000 workers work at the plant and more than 400 engineering technicians.

In the conversation plant director Kim Hyeon-sam [sic] (he worked at the plant as chief engineer from 1 October 1958 through August 1959) said that the plant's collective works with great enthusiasm. The workers are displaying special interest and attention to the upcoming visit to the works by Cde. N. S. Khrushchev. The production teams and shops are taking on increased commitments in connection with this. The director then said what they are proposing to show Cde. N. S. Khrushchev when he visits the works.

I inspected the blast furnace, the coke ovens, and the open-hearth and rolled products shops together with the plant management. At the moment of the visit the workers of the works were working on laying concrete on the entrance to the plant management and the entrances to individual plant shops. Work is also being done to repair and improve the roads in the sector from the main Pyongyang-Sariwon highway to the plan (a distance of about 12 km).

The great housing construction calls attention to itself. Compared to spring 1958 when I was at the plant, when the blast furnace was being put in operation, a new worker's settlement has appeared with more than 20 four- and five-story buildings build of prefabricated concrete.

[…]

SOVIET AMBASSADOR IN THE DPRK [signature] (A. Puzanov)

Five copies sent

1 - Cde. A. A. Gromyko

2 - Cde. Yu. V. Andropov

3 - Cde. V. I. Tugarinov

4 - UVPI MID SSSR

5 - to file

Nº 480, at

30 September 1960