Pyongyang, February 2 (KCNA) -- Officials of the Ministry of Coal Industry in the DPRK are carrying on the innovative economic operation and guidance to increase the number of tunneling places and coal faces, true to the decisions of the 6th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.

The ministry has taken detailed steps to further strengthen the tunneling force at the coal mines in the western region and supply equipment and materials to them so that they can build up their material and technical foundation.

It also took a practical measure for securing enough coal deposits through a quarterly high-speed tunneling contest.

It is now pushing ahead with the work to develop 30-odd more coal faces than the same period of last year in the first half of the year. -0-