North convenes key party meeting with leader Kim Jong-un present

North Korea’s ruling party and leader Kim Jong-un gathered to review the party’s performance over the past year and to determine key policies for the coming year, Pyongyang’s state media reported Tuesday.

In footage broadcast by Pyongyang's state-controlled Korean Central Television (KCTV) on Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un greets members of the ruling Workers' Party at the 6th expanded plenary session of the party's 8th Central Committee in Pyongyang the previous day [YONHAP]

North Korea’s ruling party and leader Kim Jong-un gathered to review the party’s performance over the past year and to determine key policies for the coming year, Pyongyang’s state media reported Tuesday.

According to the North’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the 6th expanded plenary session of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party was convened at the Central Committee’s headquarters in Pyongyang on Monday.

Kim, who presided over the gathering, said that the events of 2022 constituted “a noble experience” for the regime by imparting a “deep understanding of the unique nature of the recently formed internal and external environment” and “clarifying the direction of progress in national affairs.”

North Korea has launched a record 67 ballistic missiles this year, including eight intercontinental ballistic missiles and two medium-range ballistic missiles that it said carried a test satellite as part of a final test before the regime launches a spy satellite next year.

Pyongyang also passed a law in September authorizing first-use of nuclear weapons if the regime's leadership is threatened by an attack.

During his speech, Kim suggested that the regime’s pursuit or testing of weapons of mass destruction would not slow down next year.

“We will formulate a more furious and confident struggle strategy grounded in our perseverance through everything and our practical progress in overcoming difficulties,” Kim said.

The North Korean leader also expressed satisfaction that the North’s “national power has remarkably increased in all fields of politics, military, economy and culture” through “accomplishments and progress achieved by fulfilling the massive tasks presented by the 5th plenary session” of the 8th Central Committee, which took place in June.

Participants at Monday’s session approved several major agenda items, including a review of the implementation of major policies and the budget in 2022, as well as a working plan and a draft budget for 2023, KCNA said.

Kim also mentioned “key goals” to be achieved in 2023 in various sectors of the moribund North Korean economy, including metal, chemical, electricity, construction, agriculture and light industry.

Although Kim has previously referred to a policy of “byungjin,” or the simultaneous pursuit of nuclear weapons and economic development, to strengthen his regime, the North’s economy remains in dire straits after Pyongyang sealed its borders at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, which was first detected in neighboring China.

Although the North has since loosened border controls and resumed limited rail shipments from abroad, surging infections in China have led to another steep fall in trade, with Chinese customs data showing a 20 percent drop in bilateral trade last month.

The country also remains under both international and various unilateral sanctions for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

In addition to the ruling party’s plenary session, Kim also attended a gathering on Monday evening to mark the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of the country’s socialist constitution.

The commemoration took place at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang, the KCNA reported.

The president of the North’s rubber-stamp parliament, Choe Ryong-hae, alluded to the regime’s progress in weapons development during a speech at the meeting, where he said that the constitution will “just as successfully carry out its historic mission as a weapon powerfully propelling the cause of building a powerful country.”

He also claimed that the Workers’ Party had won a “miraculous victory” by putting an end to the history of the United States’ “nuclear blackmail” against the North.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]