{"id":4177,"date":"2019-04-22T12:44:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T03:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=4177"},"modified":"2019-04-23T17:58:42","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T08:58:42","slug":"4177","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2019\/04\/society-economy\/4177\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dark Ages: Residents Complain as \u201cPower-saving\u201d Zones Expand Across the Countryside"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At this year\u2019s Supreme People\u2019s Assembly, Kim Jong-un was named \u201cthe highest representative of the entire Korean people\u201d. Originally broadcasted by Chosun Central Broadcasting on January 1, 2019.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have electricity for even a second. Not a blink. It\u2019s like living in primitive times. With this prolonged \u2018power-saving\u2019, there are growing complaints about how much longer we will have to do endure,\u201d said a reporting partner from the northern province of Yanggang in mid-April. <\/p>\n

\u201cPower-saving\u201d is being instituted across an expanding region of residential areas. In April, ASIAPRESS surveyed various parts of North Korea, finding that electricity was not being supplied to an increasing number of areas in North Hamkyung Province, Yanggang Province, and South Pyongan Province. <\/p>\n

North Korea depends on hydroelectric power for 70% of its electricity supply and, each winter, freezing conditions cause the power situation to deteriorate considerably. April usually brings some respite though, with electricity production returning to normal levels as frozen rivers and dams melt. Unlike in previous years, however, the electricity situation has not yet improved. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, government and party offices, police stations, and industrial centers are understood to be receiving electricity for about half of the day, although even this is not reliably supplied. (Kang Ji-won)<\/p>\n

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