Kim Jong-un Launches 2026 Regional Development Drive in North Korea

Kim attended the ceremony the previous day to mark the start of a regional development construction project in Unnyul County in South Hwanghae Province, and dug the first spadeful of earth, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, announcing the first regional construction campaign for 2026.

Kim began his signature regional development policy in 2024, pledging to build modern factories in 20 cities and counties across the country every year for a 10-year period, in a bid to improve living standards for the people.

"This is the third year for implementing the regional development policy, and public health facilities and leisure complexes, together with regional-industry factories, will be built in 20 regions of the country including this Unnyul County," the KCNA quoted Kim as saying at the ceremony.

"This means that nearly one-third of the cities and counties across the country will have been transformed," he said.

The leader said the policy is a "testimony to our firm will to transform and improve the people's living fundamentally and simultaneously throughout the country," adding that it also demonstrates the country's development potential, Yonhap news agency reported.

Kim also extended thanks to soldiers mobilised at construction sites under the policy, calling them "creators of the people's wellbeing."

"I am sure that our party, whose political ideal is the people-first principle, will continue ... to tap all potentialities for regional development and carry out the annual plans for it in a forceful and thoroughgoing way," Kim noted.

While visiting sites related to the regional development policy, Kim has touted its results on several occasions recently in what was seen as an effort to drum up public support as the country prepares to hold a key party congress possibly next month.

- IANS