Kim Jong-un acknowledges N. Korea's failure to achieve economic target in WPK Congress speech

It's unprecedented for a N. Korean leader to acknowledge a state failure in a congress

The 8th WPK Congress kicks off in Pyongyang on Jan. 5. (Yonhap News)

In his opening speech for the 8th Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) Congress on Jan. 5, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared that “though the period of implementing the Five-Year Strategy for the National Economic Development ended last year, almost all sectors fell a long way short of the set objectives.”

In a 2,420-word speech published in the June 6 edition of the Rodong Sinmun, Kim described the five years since the 7th WPK Congress in May 2016 as a series of “unprecedented, worst-ever trials.” He also said the WPK had “provided a sure guarantee for reliably defending the destiny of the country and the people generation after generation.” His assessment appeared to reflect Pyongyang’s declaration that its nuclear arsenal was “complete” on Nov. 29, 2017. His wording has drawn some attention for not specifically mentioning nuclear weapons.

Kim’s speech shows that his primary concern is the economy. His admission that the country “fell short” is particularly surprising, as no North Korean leader has ever explicitly acknowledged a failure to achieve a target. This is consistent with his characteristic plain-spoken style and pragmatic approach to leadership.

North Korea’s economy has been shaken to the core by a triple whammy: long-term, intensive sanctions from the US and the UN, the COVID-19 pandemic, and disastrous flooding. In response to the pandemic, North Korea sealed its borders due to its vulnerable healthcare infrastructure. Trade with China, the North Korean economy’s lifeline, has been reduced to zero since October 2020. China normally accounts for 98% of North Korea’s trade. Increased market activity, trade with China, and the recovery of state manufacturing — the North’s three main growth engines since Kim came to power in 2012 — have effectively been shut down.

Judging solely from his speech, Kim has not sought to echo the North’s traditional rhetoric by blaming the economic failure on “the US empire and South Korea’s hostile policies to isolate and eradicate” North Korea. While he referred to “various external and internal challenges that hamper and hinder our effort,” he also stressed “the principle of finding the cause of mistakes not in the objective conditions, but in the subjective conditions, and resolving all problems by enhancing the role of our motive force.”

Particularly noteworthy is a passage in which Kim referred to a party committee that was dispatched to “carefully listen to the opinions of workers, farmers and intellectuals who are Party members and work in the field,” while the party leadership “analyzed and reviewed the finances of the Party over the last five years and studied the measures for improving them.”

This a possible allusion to North Korea’s campaign of “self-sufficiency” and “principle of self-development” described as a “permanent strategic line” at the 7th WPK Congress.

A former senior South Korean official said, “As difficult as the situation is, hopefully Kim Jong-un’s prescription will not proceed along an ‘ism-ism’ or ideology.”

In related news, the Rodong Sinmun devoted the entire fifth page of its Jan. 6 edition, the first to report on the congress, to printing the full text of a congratulatory cable from the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee. The cable declared that China was “prepared to make new and active contributions to realizing peace, stability, development, and prosperity in the region.” This suggests that Kim may be seeking a path to survival through a stronger relationship with China.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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