North Korea Province Lost Power Last Week, Including Facilities for Top Leadership in South Korea

The entire province lost power last week, including facilities dedicated to the country's top leadership. The provincial party committee reportedly mobilized the provincial safety bureau and People's Army units for a large-scale recovery effort. The blackout was directly caused by a chain of failures at power facilities managed by the provincial power transmission and distribution department.

Aging infrastructure, unable to withstand the strain of concentrated electricity demand during extreme heat, broke down and paralyzed the grid. North Korea's high-voltage transmission lines and substations suffer from poor insulation and a lack of safety devices, making widespread failures likely from a single point of failure. Prolonged high temperatures cause rapid thermal expansion of metal transmission lines and overheating inside transformers. A source said, Last week, the entire province had a total blackout, cutting electricity even to symbols and facilities related to the highest dignity.