In a conclusion made at the historic Fourth Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, the respected Comrade
The respected Comrade
"Land administration is a patriotic undertaking of lasting significance for achieving the prosperity of the country and a noble undertaking for creating an excellent living base for the people."
Land management is a patriotic work of lasting value for the prosperity of the country and a noble undertaking to protect the lives and property of the people and turn the country into a people's paradise.
It is only when the land, resources, nature and living environment of the country are properly managed that the economy can gain a sustainable development and the cradle for a happy and stable life for all generations to come can be preserved and improved.
The situation in which disastrous climates such as floods and typhoons have become frequent occurrences further highlights the importance of land management. If land management is neglected, it is impossible to guarantee the normal economic activities and people's livelihood and turn the country into a beautiful paradise for people to live in, to say nothing of instant loss of the country's precious wealth.
Land management directly leads to economic construction and provides essential condition for the people's living and security and the development of the state. The development of state economy and the stabilization of people's living would be unthinkable apart from proper land management.
Land management is closely related to economic construction-proper management of the land, resources and environment under the control of the state is itself an activity to transform nature, a process of satisfactorily providing the material conditions for economic development and increasing the wealth of the country.
Land is the material foundation for economic development and favourable conditions and environment for economic construction are created by land management. Land is a basic means of agricultural production and the raw materials needed for industry are derived from land, underground resources and forests, and the conditions and environment for the production and management of all sectors of the national economy are provided by the management of roads, rivers, coasts and other land. Unless land management is done properly, the production means cannot be provided properly for agriculture, mining and other economic sectors-the relations between the economic sectors cannot be satisfactorily established, and the environment and conditions of economic construction will be spoiled, the consequences of which will affect the overall economic construction.
Land management is precisely the process of economic construction and the production of material wealth. It is not only an undertaking to create conditions and environment for economic construction but also a process of increasing the wealth of the country by transforming nature directly.
Land is a precious asset of the country. Since economic construction is undertaken with the state as a unit, the land, water and natural environment under the control of the state are the material sources of economic construction and affluent and civilized life and, furthermore, the eternal foundation for the prosperity of the country and nation.
Through land management, the land, water and natural environment of the state are preserved and transformed into useful ones for people, thereby increasing the wealth of the country. In addition to tideland reclamation and road construction, land realignment, afforestation, river improvement, coastal and territorial waters and other land management will increase the cultivated acreage of the country and provide the land, forests, roads, embankments and real estate available for economic construction and improve all kinds of property qualitatively. The loss of land, deforestation and environmental destruction caused by the inefficient land management will result in the loss of the wealth of the country-the consequences will not be confined to the economic sector. It is not only related to the expenses for land management and the cost of its restoration but also to the loss of state and people's property which should be available for generations to come.
Land and other resources are changed by natural movements and a variety of economic activities targeting land area and its management and protection become even more important as the society develops.
Since the underground resources which serve as important raw materials and fuel resources for modern industry are naturally formed in the long history of geological change, their exploitation and use has a considerable impact on the land environment. Therefore, land management which defines and controls the development area of underground resources, distribution of coal and ore mines, the disposal facilities of the excavated resources is a major guarantee for the sustainable development of the national economy by ensuring the most reasonable balance between economic development and resources exploitation.
Environmental protection aimed at providing people with an independent and creative living environment needs to be undertaken by the socialist state for the whole period of socialist construction. Moreover, the current situation characterized by rapidly-developing industry, unprecedently-increasing economic scale and high rate of population growth make it a pressing issue for the survival of humanity to protect natural environment.
Land management comes as a particularly important issue for our country – it has many mountains, rivers and long coastlines; its economic construction cannot be carried out without mountains, rivers, coasts and territorial waters, and it directly depends on the level of land management. Poor management of mountains and rivers may result in such disasters as floods and landslides in case of much rain causing economic stagnation and tremendous damage to people's living. Sustainable development of state economy can be guaranteed only by active protection and rational exploitation of the land. This clearly indicates that land management is linked to economic construction which increases the wealth of the country.
Land management is an important undertaking that is linked with the people's life and the state development.
It is not only an economic practices that is geared to increasing the wealth of the country and providing conditions for economic development. The importance of land management lies in that it is a political work aimed at protecting the lives and property of the people, the driving force of state development and providing secure life and prosperity of the country.
Humans are surrounded by nature and living environment protected and managed by land management. They can live and develop only in a proper living environment. If they are to lead an affluent and cultured life and live a long life, their living environment should be protected properly along with affluent material and cultural environment and advanced health service.
If arable land, forests, beneficial animals and plants and marine resources are increased whereas rivers, roads and coastlines are laid out in a beautiful way thanks to good land management, it will be possible to provide the people with a civilized and beautiful place to live and living environment for long life in god health and reliably protect the lives and property of the people against natural catastrophes.
Ever-worsening global impact of disastrous climate is being felt in our country with increased urgency for good land management. If land management is not conducted efficiently so as to withstand any devastating natural disasters, the lives and security of the people will be gravely endangered and, furthermore, the public trust in the Party and the state will be impaired.
If we overlook land management suffer from natural disasters, it will take a great deal of time and huge manpower and material resources to recover. This will in turn cause difficulties in the sustainable and normal development of the economy slowing down the advance of socialist construction.
The experience gained in land management by Songchon County of South Phyongan Province and Unsan County of North Phyongan Province clearly signifies the importance of this work. These counties, regarding land management as a vital issue related to the destiny of the county, put a great deal of efforts in it until enormous benefits were secured. In the past these counties suffered a number of natural disasters including floods and typhoons due to their geographical location featured by large mountain areas and rivers of varied lengths. However, they worked out a plan for land management, including embankment and river improvement, and carried it out in a substantial way on an annual and phased basis, thus achieving remarkable success over ten years. The mountains and rivers which used to be life-threatening and destroy farmland and inflict tremendous damage on people's living have now turned into a place of happiness and precious resources beneficial to one generation after another. The lessons from these counties clearly indicate that it is possible to develop the local economy by one's own efforts and successfully transform one's own region if land management is made a top priority and persistently pushed ahead by concerted efforts in the implementation of economic policy.
The viewpoint and attitude towards land management are directly linked with the attitude of safeguarding the Party and the revolution and the attitude of loving the state and the people. Responsible protection and management of the land in one's own region will lead on to the security and development of the state and the people and successful implementation of the Party's lines and policies, let alone the development of one's own region.
Without land management, no success can be expected in any other work. Only when it is steadfastly carried out, will the WPK's policy of making comprehensive development in all sectors including education, culture and public health as well as economic work can successfully implemented.
