North Korea says 'self-reliant' iron facility will begin production

Oct. 1 (UPI) -- North Korea is stressing economic self-reliance in a new report about the completion of a "Juche Iron" facility in Songrim, North Hwanghae Province.

The facility is located inside Hwanghae Iron and Steel Complex, and a ceremony was held on Sunday, according to the Rodong Sinmun.

The Hwanghae complex is the second facility in North Korea tasked with producing Juche Iron, or iron and steel made with domestic technology and resources.

Recently North Korea made a similar announcement regarding its Kim Ch'aek Iron and Steel Complex, where the technology and raw material is "100 percent" domestically produced.

"The [Hwanghae steel complex] workers, engineers and laborers were able to complete the turn-key project through the spirit of self-reliance and strenuous efforts," the Rodong stated Monday. "It has been firmly forecasted, production of steel will be regularized using 100 percent our technology, fuel and raw materials."

Oh Su Yong, a vice chair of the Korean Workers' Party, reportedly thanked engineers for completing work on an "oxygen separator control system" and production technology for manganese steel.

Pyongyang's emphasis on domestic development was not the focal point of discussion on inter-Korea economic cooperation in Seoul on Monday.

Yonhap reported the unification ministry is expected to release "detailed cost estimates" on an inter-Korea railroad that was part of an agreement signed in April between the two Korean leaders.

The statement comes after a local newspaper claimed road and railroad projects could total $38.7 billion in costs for the South.

Field surveys have yet to be undertaken and the U.N. Command on the peninsula has not approved the visits, according to the report.