North Korea is upgrading its railways to handle increasing coal shipments, according to a report from Korean Central Television (KCTV) published by the DPRK’s foreign news service Uriminzokkiri yesterday.

The broadcast claims the upgrades will be complete in time for the seventh Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) scheduled for early May.

“This year, twice as many freight trains arrived in our station than during the same time period last year,” an employee at Pyongchon station told KCTV.

“By cooperating with the Railway Bureau to reduce delivery times, we are