The Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Concern’s work in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea mainly focuses on water and sanitation, forestry and agriculture.

Water works

Our water and sanitation projects have benefitted around 161,000 people. As part of this, we have linked 9,260 families to new supplies of safe drinking water. Renovated pump stations are also delivering better quality water to 20,650 families. Over 600 latrines were built too, improving sanitation.

In the rural communities where we work, our focus has been on halting deforestation and improving farming techniques. In total, 170,000 people have benefited from this work.

Forestry

We have provided 270,000 potted tree seedlings to three community-run nurseries. These potted seedlings grow quickly – in three to nine months – with undamaged root systems.

This is a major improvement on the more traditional bed-grown seedlings that were previously used. Traditional seedlings usually take one to three years to grow and often suffer from damaged roots.

As a result of the success of the potted seedlings, the Ministry of Lands and Environmental Protection is now keen to extend their use countrywide.

As part of our forestry work, we have also supplied nurseries with tools, pots and fuel.

Improving crops

With supervision from the Academy of Agricultural Research, we undertook a series of crop trials. We wanted to find out what types of crops could flourish on the lower slopes of hills and mountains.

The crops included new varieties of rice, sweet potato, sorghum, soya bean, millet, hybrid maize and ground nuts.

The trials were successful. There were positive results: the hybrid maize produced twice the normal yield; the millet produced standard yields using only half the normal amount of fertiliser. These crops are now being incorporated into the annual co-operative crop plans.

The ability to grow these crops on lower slopes will alleviate the pressure to produce crops on the higher steeper slopes.