Officials at a uranium refinery in Pyongsan, North Hwanghae Province, were recently replaced after international concerns were raised over environmental damage. This followed satellite imagery from June showing contaminated wastewater flowing from the facility into a nearby river.
North Korean authorities punished several officials for damaging the state’s image, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
The incident began in June when Jeong Seong-hak, director of satellite analysis at Daily NK’s AND Center, and other experts detected a brown stream of discharge flowing into a river near the Pyongsan uranium refinery.
Environmental concerns quickly spread, with critics worried that North Korea might be releasing untreated contaminated water from uranium processing into the river. The South Korean government now conducts regular joint surveys to investigate whether wastewater from the Pyongsan refinery has entered the Yellow Sea.
According to a Daily NK source recently, this atmosphere of concern has had significant repercussions inside North Korea.
In late July, North Korea dispatched a survey team to scrutinize the refinery’s management, compliance with environmental standards, and internal security systems. A sweeping shakeup of refinery officials was then carried out under direct orders from the ruling party’s Organization and Guidance Department and Cadres Department.
The refinery’s technical section chief, equipment section chief, and chemistry lab manager were all dismissed. Some received three months of forced labor while their families were exiled to the countryside, sparking dark rumors that “smoke no longer rises from their home chimneys,” the source said.
Officials were quietly rebuked for “disgracing the nation” after “enemy satellites” photographed the wastewater discharge. “Your mismanagement of the plant has become an international laughing stock,” they were told.
Regime prioritizes image over environmental impact
For the authorities, the biggest problem was that North Korea came under international criticism after satellite images detected signs of wastewater from the Pyongsan refinery flowing into the river. This reveals North Korea’s particular approach to governance, where officials face severe punishment for the political offense of harming the state’s international image and prestige.
“The leadership began seizing officials, saying they had focused the eyes and ears of the world (on North Korea’s mistakes),” the source said. “Officially, the authorities emphasized mismanagement and negligence, but ultimately, they believe the outside attention was the gravest problem.”
As follow-up measures, North Korean authorities have begun replacing refinery officials and retooling the facility. The ruling party has ordered the plant to recruit young technical officials with high loyalty and competency. It is also reconsidering blueprints for production equipment at the refinery and nearby mines while drawing up modernization plans.
The modernization plans include upgrading environmental equipment, such as improved wastewater purification facilities, pipes, and soil barriers. Because North Korean authorities treated the latest incident as an “international disgrace” and “act of mismanagement,” they are unlikely to stop with mere equipment improvements. Instead, they will likely fundamentally redesign structures to meet international environmental safety standards.
The party has also ordered the refinery and nearby mines to revise their environmental safety regulations.
“Meeting all environmental standard indicators would be difficult, but they will gradually improve things, even if it takes several years,” the source said. “This latest measure may be expanded to cover the entire munitions industry.”
