Pyongyang, 1 January 2022 (TDI): The Supreme Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) or North Korea, as is commonly known, and the leader of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Kim Jong-un addressed the key ruling party meeting held at the end of 2021.
The meeting was a session of the 4th plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) that was chaired by Kim Jong-un. The meeting began on Monday.
During his address, he stated that the economy of the country will be the utmost national priority in 2022 as the country is facing a “great life-and-death struggle.” This year marks 10 years of Kim Jong-un being in power.
With the widespread Covid-19 pandemic, the economy of the entire world has suffered a crippling blow with the lockdowns and obstructed supply chains. At the beginning of the pandemic, North Korea imposed a blockade to curtail the spread of the virus. The border of the country has been closed since January 2020 to control the spread of Covid-19.
However, the blockade wasn’t conducive for the economy even though it was required to curb the virus. Kim Jong-un accentuated during his speech that the main task will be to increase development along with improving the living standard of the people.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North Korean leader highlighted the “harsh situation” in 2021 and set “an important task for making radical progress in solving the food, clothing and housing problem for the people.”
Moreover, the country will focus on battling the pandemic. “Emergency epidemic prevention work should be made a top priority in the state work,” as KCNA quotes the North Korean leader.
In addition, he also enunciated that Pyongyang will persist to fortify its defense capabilities owing to the increasingly uncertain and unstable military environment on the Korean Peninsula.
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