N.Korean ruling party meeting focuses on flaws in economy, justice system

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - The ruling elite of the North Korean ruling party deliberated on “shortcomings” in the national economy, as well as in the country’s justice delivery system, state media reported on Tuesday.

Workers' Party of Korea held a four-day long 10th plenary session of its eighth central committee from Friday until Monday in what appears to be the mountainous Myohyangsan region in the northwest of the country.

It was an interim review meeting of the work done for the past six months.

The participating party members were also seen wearing for the first time a pin featuring the portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who also attended the meeting.

Kim stressed the “correct appraisal of the successes made and shortcomings revealed in the work in the first half of the year.”

He pointed out the “issue of improving the work style and leadership abilities of leading officials and the issue of supplementing and perfecting the judicial system of the country.”

The North Korean leader said: “A definite upturn can be felt in the economic situation in the first half of the year, as compared with the same period of last year.”

He lauded the plan for regional development that “is unprecedented since the founding of the country and entered a stage of its full-scale implementation.”

In a “serious review and analysis” of the deviations and shortcomings revealed in different sectors of the national economy, Kim “specified the tasks to be fulfilled to effectively and steadily push forward” the overall economy “on a track of stable and sustainable development.”

Addressing the Cabinet members, Kim stressed the need to “develop the country’s economy in a long-term, foresighted and methodological way.”

“The Cabinet should first design a clear-cut roadmap for increasing the executive ability to proactively improve economic management, work out a step-by-step plan, and then push ahead with the ensuing undertakings with the proper method,” he said.

He urged the Cabinet to “give priority to the opinions of the field officials and working people directly in charge of production and construction.”

In the second half of the year, Kim reminded the officials that the “key industrial sectors should play a leading role in high spirits in achieving significant innovative successes in 2024.”

Kim’s particular mention of the power industry also indicated a growing need for electricity in the country.

He urged finishing the first-stage construction of the Tanchon Power Station within the ongoing year and “speed up the construction of new power stations, put in efforts to raise the efficiency of existing power stations and ensure a rational supply of electricity.

“Whole society should strive to economize on electricity so as to make effective use of the produced electricity,” said Kim.

The comments from Kim’s speech to the plenary released by the state media made a one-line reference to the “orientation of the military and political activities of all the armed forces,” including the Korean People’s Army.