North Korea leader Kim Jong Un has called a major political summit before the end of the year where he is expected to address his increasingly strained relations with Washington and Seoul over the expansion of its nuclear and missile programmes.
North Korea’s state media said on Thursday that Kim presided over a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Politburo, in which members reviewed the implementation of state policies in 2022, and a major meeting of the party’s Central Committee in late December. It was decided to hold a plenary meeting. ,
Kim has used political conferences in late December or early January to review state affairs and reveal his most important goals in economic and foreign policy and weapons development. It is possible these meetings are replacing Kim’s ceremony of New Year’s Day speeches, which he has abandoned since 2020 after using them for years to issue major announcements.
During Wednesday’s meeting in the capital PyongyangKim stressed that this year the country overcame “unprecedented adversity” in both internal and external circumstances to achieve progress in national development and enhance the country’s “prestige and honor”, the Korean Central News Agency said.
North Korea has ramped up missile testing this year at a record pace, taking advantage of divisions in the UN Security Council over Russia’s war on Ukraine to accelerate weapons development and increase pressure on Washington and Seoul.
But Kim is also struggling to repair an economy battered and heavily sanctioned by pandemic border closures in recent years, an issue he could also address during a year-end summit.
State media reports of Kim’s remarks during Wednesday’s politburo meeting did not include specific details of what the party’s plenary session would discuss. He also did not mention any critical remarks towards Washington or Seoul.
KCNA said Kim described 2023 as an important year to meet the goals set under the five-year plan established during the ruling party congress in January 2021, where he promised to improve his economy and present his nuclear deterrent to the US. vowed to strengthen Sanctions and pressure led. During that congress, Kim issued a long wish list of sophisticated weapons, including more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, nuclear-powered submarines, spy satellites and tactical nuclear weapons.
Noting that 2023 is a “historic year” – marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of North Korea and the 70th anniversary of the end of the 1950–53 Korean War – Kim said it would be “decisive for the fulfillment of the five-year plan”. Guarantee” will be determined for the coming year, according to KCNA.
North Korea’s dozens of missile tests this year have included several launches of ICBMs with potential range to reach the US mainland and an intermediate-range missile fired over Japan. The North has also conducted a barrage of short-range launches of what it described as simulated nuclear strikes on South Korean and US targets as it reacted angrily to an expansion of joint military exercises by the allies, which the North says There is rehearsal for a possible invasion.
North Korea has halted its tests with threats of nuclear conflict with Washington and Seoul communicating a growing nuclear doctrine. In September Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp parliament passed a law authorizing preemptive nuclear strikes over a wide range of scenarios, including non-war situations where it could see its leadership at risk.
Experts say Kim’s instability is aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength. South Korean officials have said that North Korea may soon conduct its first nuclear test since 2017.
Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled since 2019 over a disagreement over whether to issue US-led sanctions in return for steps to shut down North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs.
Following the North’s latest ICBM test in November, Kim claimed the country had acquired another “reliable and maximum-capability” weapon to deter US military threats.
Kim used that test as an opportunity to publicly expose his daughter to the outside world for the first time, as his military scientists vowed to expand the country’s nuclear power to protect future generations. . His daughter’s presence was seen as an underscoring of his previous vows that he would never completely surrender the nuclear arsenal, which he apparently viewed as the strongest guarantee of his survival.