The gross value of industrial output of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) increased by 9 percent in 2008, the biggest in 10 years, the official Minju Choson daily said on Sunday.
The DPRK cabinet met recently reviewing the economy of 2008 and setting this year's tasks, the newspaper said.
The country has built up a number of modern enterprises and finished the technological updating of some factories, reportedly the country's most important economic achievements in 2008, it said.
Those achievements strengthened the technology foundation of national economy and enhanced production capacity, the newspaper said.
The meeting took guaranteeing the operation of factories and realizing their modernization as this year's task so as to achieve the highest production rate in all fields of national economy, it added.
The country should give priority to metal industry and manage well the production of electricity, coal and railway industries, it said.
Another major task proposed at the meeting was to solve the food problem through the country's own efforts.
(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2009)