Kanggye - City of North Korea

Kanggye is the provincial capital of Chagang. Because of its strategic importance, derived from its topography, it has been of military interest from the time of the Joseon Dynasty.

Kanggye University of Education, Kanggye University of Technology, and the Kanggye University of Medicine are located in the city.

Places of tourist interest include Inphung Pavilion and Mount Ryonhwa.

Kanggye Timber Processing Factory is a state-run factory located in Kanggye City. At the time when it started operation, it produced only two kinds of furniture—dining table and sterilized chopsticks—through manual labour. It has now developed into a comprehensive furniture producer, producing woodwork with a hundred and dozens of modern facilities in production and auxiliary buildings which are 27,000 square metres in total floor space.

In recent years, the factory have had its facilities remolded. These efforts had resulted in modernization of the production processes ranging from lumber cutting to furniture assembly in only a few years.

At present, the factory uses three- and four-faced automatic planes, all-purpose polishers, joining machines, grooving saws and other modern facilities.

Meanwhile the factory has directed an effort into the programme of modernizing the drying job, which is an important part of the woodworking process. The boiler-induced drying process in a spacious area was replaced with three modern drying ovens, which resulted in boosting the seasoning capacity many times as compared with the old facility, fed with a substitute fuel for coal.

By making technical innovations the factory has increased the comprehensive utility of timber considerably, thereby putting the production on a higher level and consuming far less manpower per product.

These days the primary attention is directed to ensuring standard operation of the modern facilities and elevating the workers’ technical and skill levels.