North Korean Leader Urges Improving Living Standards in Rural Areas

“Today, the inability to provide people in local areas with basic necessities such as condiments, foodstuffs and consumer goods in a satisfactory manner has become a serious political problem that our Party and our government cannot avoid,” said Kim Jong-un.

From Tuesday to Wednesday, Mr. Kim chaired a meeting of the Workers’ Party and regional development appeared at the top of the agenda, according to KCNA.

The North Korean number one noted in particular “serious imbalances and big gaps” between the regions while the overall situation of the regional economy is “in a terrible situation”.

“At present, it is a very urgent task to improve the material and cultural living standards of the populations of the regions,” he added.

The nuclear-armed country has a fragile economy and has often been accused of prioritizing its military and banned missile programs over the well-being of its people.

North Korea has been hit by famine several times, and hundreds of thousands of people — some estimates put it in the millions — died in the mid-1990s.

Experts say North Korea’s economy has only plummeted since the reclusive country closed its borders in 2020 to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, undermining its foreign trade and melting its foreign currency reserves.

Despite this serious economic situation, Pyongyang has accelerated its weapons tests in 2024, including those of an “undersea nuclear weapons system” and a solid-fuel hypersonic ballistic system.

2024-01-25 05:13:25
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