North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently reprimanded a large number of high-ranking officials at a high-level government meeting, describing them as working for self-preservation and full of “defeatism,” a negative attitude that is the main reason for the deterioration of North Korea’s economy. The negative attitude is the main reason for the deterioration of the North Korean economy.
Citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Agence France-Presse reported that Kim Jong-un, in his summary of the second plenary session of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), accused officials of lacking “innovative views and precise strategies” to solve financial problems.
He also directly named officials with production tasks under the agricultural sector, saying that “the current performance of agriculture is so unpleasant that the state cannot even supply enough agricultural machinery. Other sectors have also been affected by low production capacity, with Kim Jong-un saying the officials only “try to fish and pretend they are doing something.”
According to footage from state-run media, Kim Jong Un “shouted very angrily” as he blamed the officials and ended by pounding on the lectern in front of him.
To get rid of international sanctions against North Korea, Kim Jong Un traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2019 for talks with former U.S. President Donald Trump, where North Korea demanded that the U.S. lift all sanctions on the condition of denuclearization, but the two sides were unable to reach a consensus in the end.
Since the collapse of the talks, there has been no further progress in the dialogue between North Korea and the outside world on the nuclear deal, and North Korea even publicly displayed new missiles last October and last month, respectively.
But the new missiles have failed to ease the country’s mounting economic pressure. As North Korea’s largest trading partner, China used to account for more than 90 percent of North Korea’s imports and exports, but in order to prevent Wuhan pneumonia (new coronavirus disease, COVID-19), North Korea announced the closure of its borders in January last year, so North Korea’s trade with China plummeted by more than 80 percent in 2020.
Recent Comments