As expected by many experts, the leader of the DPRK, Kim Jong-un, this time again did without a separate New Year message to the nation. However, the leader replaced the message with his final speech at the plenum of the Central Committee of the party on December 31, where he outlined the main tasks for 2022, among which anti-epidemic measures and increasing agricultural yields were named as the most important.
According to the North Korean media, on December 31, the 4th plenum of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) of the 8th convocation completed its work, thus lasting five days, starting from December 27. On the last day of the meeting, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK Kim Jong-un made a closing speech, in which he summed up the results and outlined the tasks for the new year.
To summarize, six main issues were discussed at the plenum: summing up the results of the implementation of state and party policies in 2021 and developing plans for 2022; execution of the 2021 budget and preparation of the draft budget for 2022; tackling food shortages and improving the agricultural situation; introduction of individual changes to the party charter; the formation and strengthening of the ideological component among party members, including bodies of the central party leadership; organizational issues.
Judging by the general content of Kim Jong-un's closing speech, the DPRK leader in 2022 decided to focus on domestic affairs, giving minimal attention to foreign policy. Many foreign experts expected that Kim could make some kind of message or proposal to the United States or South Korea, but the DPRK media publications only say that the leader "gave tactical instructions" regarding the policy towards the United States, South Korea and "rapidly changing international political situation ". At the same time, nothing is reported about the specific content of these "tactical instructions". The experts noted that this time less attention was paid to foreign policy than ever before. This most likely means that North Korea intends to focus on solving internal problems and problems.
In general, this is understandable, since the DPRK has introduced a regime of severe self-isolation since the beginning of 2020, trying to prevent the penetration of COVID-19 into the country. All this negatively affected the foreign policy activity and international trade of North Korea. Therefore, in the context of the continuation of the coronavirus pandemic, Kim probably decided to pay more attention to internal issues.
Indeed, regarding internal tasks, there were more statements and specific tasks, judging from the results of the plenum of the WPK Central Committee published in the DPRK media. In particular, one of the main goals for 2022 was solving the problems of agricultural development, including increasing yields. Kim demanded from officials to solve "issues of housing, clothing and food" for the people. It was also said that the DPRK leader proposed "revolutionary measures" to improve the efficiency of agriculture.
Other major priorities for the new year, as expected, included various kinds of preventive measures aimed at preventing the penetration of the coronavirus into the country, which, according to the official statements of Pyongyang, does not yet exist in the DPRK. Moreover, these efforts were named by Kim as "the highest priority for state development." Foreign experts interpreted these words as North Korea's intention to continue to maintain a state of rigid self-isolation and not to rush to a full-scale resumption of international trade.
Another challenge for 2022 was "strengthening national defense more actively" and "maintaining the highest morale." Although the DPRK media did not report on specific directions for the development of the military industry, it is obvious that this was discussed during the plenary session of the party, and North Korea will continue to actively develop its military arsenals and armed forces.
bbabo.Net