North Korea is extracting sand from the lower Taedong River for state construction projects, with some being smuggled into China, according to an anonymous source in Pyongyang who spoke to The Daily NK on Aug. 30.
North Korea’s major construction projects in Pyongyang and other cities are driving up demand for sand, a crucial component of concrete essential for such developments.
“A lot of the sand that’s been extracted is being used as a construction material at some of the big state-organized construction sites in Pyongyang and elsewhere. The sand is being used as a construction material for public facilities and 10,000 housing units in Pyongyang, as well as the new campus of the Central Cadres Training School,” the source said.
“Right now, there’s a huge demand for sand for construction projects in Pyongyang’s Hwasong district housing development and for repairs of roads, bridges, and locks on rivers. Thousands of tons of sand are being mined from the Taedong River every day. Both professional construction crews and civilian ‘shock troops’ have been brought in to work on the mining.”
Some of the mined sand is shipped on barges to the end users. Other sand is heaped up on the riverbanks to dry and then loaded onto 10- or 15-ton trucks that will take it to its final destination.
North Korea has been mining sand on the lower Taedong River for some time and is currently expanding the mining zones, as can be easily deduced from satellite images provided by Google Earth and other sources.
North Korea’s sand mining operations are under the strict supervision and control of the Cabinet, the source said.
“The Ministry of Land and Environment Protection and the Ministry of Construction and Building-Materials Industry oversee all work related to sand mining. They’re also systematically arranging for the collected sand to be smoothly transported to the areas where it’s needed.”