North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected the construction site of a greenhouse farm in Sinuiju for his first field guidance of 2026, state media reported. The farm on Wihwa Island, hit by severe floods in summer 2024, is nearing completion after more than 500 days. Kim praised the builders for transforming the disaster-struck area into an ideal greenhouse town.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un traveled by private train to the Sinuiju Combined Greenhouse Farm construction site on Friday, January 2, 2026, for his first "field guidance" of the year, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The project on Wihwa Island in the northwestern city of Sinuiju is nearing completion.
Wihwa Island suffered severe flood damage during the summer of 2024, prompting the construction of a large greenhouse farm across vast areas. Kim attended the groundbreaking ceremony in February 2024 and has visited the site five times since, with the most recent trip in late November.
In a speech at the site, Kim praised the builders for their hard work "to transform the island area, once severely hit by natural disaster, into an ideal greenhouse town symbolic of the new era in more than 500 days." He added that "the huge construction project and assembly of greenhouse equipment have been completed perfectly and landscaping of the area is now progressing vigorously at the final stage."
Kim also expressed his "firm will to more ambitiously plan the undertakings for the promotion of the wellbeing of the people across the country and radical transformation of the regions and strenuously implement them."
The choice of this site for the year's first inspection aligns with Pyongyang's intensified efforts to meet national goals from the 2021 party congress, ahead of the ninth party congress expected in February. South Korea's intelligence authorities anticipate that the upcoming congress will unveil a new five-year plan, similar to the economic development plan adopted in 2021.
