Kim says his country's development goals have been ‘seriously delayed’, even acknowledging people’s poor standard of living
Seoul — Kim Jong-un has said North Korea’s development goals have been “seriously delayed”, a rare acknowledgment that shows the country’s already anaemic economy is under severe strain from sanctions, flooding and the pandemic.
The North Korean leader also pledged to unveil a new five-year economic development plan at a party congress in January. The last meeting in 2016 of what is ostensibly North Korea’s highest-level decision-making assembly came after a 36-year gap in which former leader Kim Jong-il ignored regulations in the Workers’ Party to hold them every five years.
While state media made no mention of the US-led sanctions regime on the country, Pyongyang has repeatedly lashed out at the campaign. In December, Kim similarly told the central committee that “the conditions of the national economy have not turned better”, adding that “the role of the state as the organiser of economic work has not been enhanced”.Kim is facing difficulties on various fronts, and a reported health scare earlier this year raised questions about succession.
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