SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean chief Kim Jong-un praised what he referred to as achievements and victories that strengthened nationwide energy and boosted the nation’s status this yr, as he opened a key political assembly to set new coverage targets for 2024, state media reported Wednesday.
Experts stated that in this week’s year-end plenary assembly of the ruling Workers’ Party, North Korea would seemingly hype its progress in arms growth as a result of the nation lacks financial achievements amid persistent worldwide sanctions and pandemic-related financial hardships.
In his opening-day speech on the assembly that started Tuesday, Kim outlined 2023 “as a year of great turn and great change both in name and reality, in which (North Korea) left a great trace in the glorious course of development in the efforts to improve the national power and enhance the prestige of the country,” based on the official Korean Central News Agency.
KCNA stated North Korea achieved a speedy development in its protection capabilities this yr within the wake of the launch of its first navy spy satellite tv for pc in November and the introduction of different subtle weapons.
KCNA stated North Korea additionally reported a uncommon good harvest this yr because the nation completed constructing new irrigation techniques forward of schedule and met main agricultural state targets. It stated that fashionable streets, new homes and different buildings have been in-built Pyongyang and elsewhere throughout the nation.
According to a current evaluation by South Korea’s state-run Rural Development Administration, North Korea’s grain manufacturing this yr was estimated at 4.8 million tons, a 6.9% enhance from final yr’s 4.5 million tons, due to favorable climate situations. But the 4.8 million tons are nonetheless brief by about 0.7 million tons of ample annual ranges, as consultants say North Korea wants about 5.5 million tons of grain to feed its 25 million folks every year.
The Workers’ Party assembly, anticipated to final a number of days, will evaluate state tasks from this yr and set up new targets for subsequent yr. In current years, North Korea has printed the outcomes of its assembly, together with Kim‘s closing speech, in state media on Jan. 1, allowing him to skip his New Year’s Day deal with.
The assembly comes after North Korea launched its most superior intercontinental ballistic missile, the solid-fueled Hwasong-18, which is designed to strike the mainland U.S., into the ocean final week. North Korea stated the Hwasong-18 launch, the third of its sort this yr, was meant to warn the U.S. and South Korea over their confrontational strikes towards North Korea.
On Nov. 21, North Korea put its first navy spy satellite tv for pc into orbit, although exterior consultants query whether or not it could ship militarily helpful high-resolution imagery.
The launches of the Hwasong-18 missile and the spy satellite tv for pc have been a part of an ongoing run of weapons assessments by North Korea since final yr. Kim has maintained he was compelled to develop his nuclear arsenal to deal with growing hostilities from the U.S. and its allies towards the North, however overseas consultants say he ultimately hopes to make use of an enlarged arsenal to win better exterior concessions when diplomacy resumes.
Last Thursday, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Wonsik instructed lawmakers that North Korea seemed to be dashing up its weapons testing actions to focus on its achievements in protection sectors as a result of it lacked main progress within the financial system and public livelihoods.
In current years, North Korea’s fragile financial system was severely battered by pandemic-related curbs, U.S.-led sanctions and the North’s personal mismanagement. But monitoring teams say there are not any indicators of a humanitarian disaster or social chaos that might threaten Kim‘s absolute rule at home.
In August, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service instructed lawmakers that North Korea’s financial system shrank every year from 2020 to 2022 and that its gross home product final yr was 12% lower than in 2016.
