Kim Jong Un "solemnly swore" to tug North Korea out of deepening economic troubles at the four-day meeting of the ruling party ended, as he acknowledged food shortages and urged officials to organize for both dialogue and confrontation with the US, state media KCNA reported on Saturday. Kim Jong Un said that the party “will surely break through head-on the difficulties lying within the way of the revolution,” the Korean Central press agency reported.
Kim Jong Un presided over a four-day plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, which began on Tuesday. Before this, Kim Jong Un ordered his government to organize for both dialogue and confrontation with the us , which has been urging North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions and return to talks. Kim also involved measures to tackle the "tense" food situation, blaming the coronavirus pandemic and last year's typhoons.
KCNA released Kim's comments just before Sung Kim, US President Joe Biden's special representative for North Korea , arrived in South Korea on Saturday for talks over stalled nuclear diplomacy with the North. Sung Kim will meet with South Korean senior diplomats and participate during a trilateral meeting that has Japanese nuclear envoy Takehiro Funakoshi on Monday. The US state department said his travel emphasises the importance of three-way cooperation in working toward complete denuclearization of the Korea .
Kim Jong Un has also appointed new members of the Workers' Party of Korea's powerful politburo and "reinforced the discipline" within party ranks. Some members of the leadership expressed "remorse for failing to measure up to the expectations," after Kim acknowledged "serious problems" with their lifestyle, KCNA said, without elaborating.
The central committee's politburo also elected Thae Hyong Chol, vice chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, as a replacement member, and U Sang Chol, a politician at the party's Central Auditing Commission, as an alternate member, KCNA said.
KCNA reported, without elaborating, that some members of the leadership expressed "remorse for failing to measure up to the expectations," after Kim acknowledged "serious problems" with their lifestyle.
