North Korea's Kim Jong Un visits new youth campsite

SEOUL, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Kim Jong Un provided field guidance at a newly constructed campsite for youth as state media reported the North Korean leader thanked volunteers for work in flood-stricken areas of the country.

Kim, who has yet to visit areas of North Hamgyong Province hit by floods, is focusing his efforts on civilian projects.

Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported Wednesday, local time, Kim visited the December 6 Youth Campsite, most likely named after the date of completion.

"Workers and party members in Kangwon Province placed faith in their own strength and overcame difficulties and challenges to remarkably construct a youth campsite," Kim said, according to state-controlled news agency KCNA. "All [work] units must learn from the spirit of self-effort of the people of Kangwon Province."

The new campground includes a restaurant, a swimming pool, gym and a roller skating rink, KCNA reported.

Cho Yong Won, deputy head of the central committee of the Korean Workers' Party and Ma Won Chun, the head of a state design committee, accompanied Kim.

The North Korean leader has avoided visits to a flood-stricken area that has suspended train travel, sending instead a message of gratitude to 50 volunteers, according to state television KCTV.

The floods destroyed a large number of homes near the China border. In the aftermath of the disaster crime has increased in Chinese areas adjacent to North Korea, according to a Japanese press report.

Theft of ginseng has grown in the Chinese province of Jilin since the floods left hundreds of thousands of North Koreans homeless, the Tokyo Shimbun reported Wednesday, local time.

North Koreans reportedly crossed the river to "steal massive amounts of ginseng by night" in September and October.

The medicinal plant can sell for as much as $72 per kilogram in North Korea, the report says.