Solar panels at a pickled seafood processing factory in Unryul County in South Hwanghae Province is pictured in this photo released by North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun on Jan. 12. [RODONG SINMUN]

 
North Korea is drumming up the utilization of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources, local media showed on Monday, as the country faces a chronic shortage of fuel and electricity amid continuing international sanctions.
 
The North’s Rodong Sinmun ran an article introducing a pickled seafood processing factory in Unryul County in South Hwanghae Province as a model case of utilizing natural energy sources.
 
 
The newspaper said the region had solar and wind power plants constructed at the instruction of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who visited the area in 2015, with the solar power facility housing about 11,000 solar panels.
 
The Rodong Sinmun touted that the facilities, which combine solar and wind power stations, overcome days with insufficient sunlight by switching to wind power generation to produce electricity.
 
The paper also reported that the regional power stations generate enough electricity to power factories and supply surplus electricity to the homes of factory employees and the national power grid.
 
“Since the factory began operations, we have not known such a thing as an electricity shortage,” a factory manager was quoted as saying.
 
The emphasis on reliance on renewable energy appears to be related to North Korea’s chronic electricity shortage, caused by international sanctions limiting fuel imports.
 
South Korea’s statistics agency said electricity generation by North Korea reached 25.3 billion kilowatt-hours in 2024, only 4.2 percent of what South Korea generated that year.
 
In an effort to combat electricity shortages, North Korea adopted a renewable energy act in 2013, promoting the use of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources.

Yonhap