North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for more effort to overcome the difficulties and challenges his country is facing as he opened a key political meeting after carrying out a record number of missile tests this year.
A plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party was convened in Pyongyang on Monday to review past projects and discuss next year’s work plans, the Korean Central News Agency said on Tuesday. Kim is likely to use the meeting to reaffirm his determination to expand his nuclear arsenal and introduce high-tech weapons aimed at the United States and South Korea while laying out plans to revive pandemic-hit public livelihoods, some experts say .
In his opening remarks, Kim compared the difficulties and challenges since a larger party meeting in early 2021 to “the ten-year struggle of the revolution.” But he asserted that North Korea has reported some successes “on the arduous road” and that his country’s power has increased “remarkably” in political, military, economic and cultural areas.
“He stressed the need to devise strategies to launch more exciting and confident fights based on valuable facts that the country has made practical progress after enduring all difficulties,” the Korean Central News Agency said. He said Kim reviewed the “splendid” achievement made this year and clarified the “strategic and tactical” tasks to achieve North Korean-style socialism.
KCNA did not elaborate further on the achievement Kim claimed and the tasks he set, and his achievement claims could not be independently confirmed. Kim may need such propaganda-fuelled claims to garner greater public loyalty to push through difficult projects to bolster his weapons arsenal and tackle economic woes while facing US-led sanctions and pressure campaigns to rein in his nuclear ambitions, they say. some observers.
The Workers’ Party meeting is expected to last several days and Kim is likely to address issues such as the arms buildup, relations with the United States and the economy in later sessions. This year, Kim’s military launched a record number of missiles, many of them nuclear-capable weapons capable of hitting the mainland United States and its allies South Korea and Japan. He has said he will not return to talks with the United States unless he withdraws his hostile policies, in an apparent reference to US-led sanctions and his regular military exercises with South Korea.
On Monday, animosities on the Korean peninsula escalated further after South Korea accused North Korea of flying drones across your tense border for the first time in five years and responded with warning shots and warplanes that went astray. It was not known if any of the North Korean drones were shot down. South Korea said it has also sent its own surveillance assets, in an apparent reference to unmanned drones, across the border.
