North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned about possible food shortages and called for his people to brace for extended COVID-19 restrictions as he opened a major political conference to discuss national efforts to salvage a broken economy.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency also said Wednesday that Kim called for discussions on how the North should deal with the “current international situation,” though it did not mention any specific comments from Kim about the United States or South Korea.
North Korea has so far ignored the allies’ calls to resume nuclear negotiations that have stalled for two years following the collapse of Kim’s ambitious summitry with former President Donald Trump, which derailed over disagreements in exchanging relief from crippling US-led sanctions with denuclearisation steps by the North.
Meanwhile, the North’s economy has decayed further amid pandemic border closures, which choked off trade with China, while devastating typhoons and floods last summer decimated crops.
Meanwhile, the North’s economy has decayed further amid pandemic border closures, which choked off trade with China, while devastating typhoons and floods last summer decimated crops.
Kim had called for the party meeting to review national efforts to rebuild the economy for the first half of the year. While addressing the “unfavourable” conditions and challenges on Tuesday, Kim also expressed appreciation over what he described as improvements, claiming that the country’s industrial output so far has increased by 25% from last year, KCNA said.
The report said the Central Committee meeting will continue but did not specify until when.
North Korea held its first ruling party congress in five years in January where it laid out development plans for the next five years. At that meeting Kim urged his people to be resilient in the struggle for economic self-reliance, called for reasserting greater state control over the economy, boosting agricultural production and prioritising the development of chemicals and metal industries.
Experts say those sectors are crucial to revitalise North Korean industrial production undercut by sanctions and halted imports of factory materials amid the pandemic.