Kim vows to improve ties with outside world at party meeting

The congress is the party’s top decision-making body which review past projects, lay out new priorities and reshuffle top officials. This month’s congress was convened as Kim is struggling to overcome what he calls “multiple crises” caused by an economy battered by pandemic-related border closings, a series of natural disasters and U.S.-led sanctions.

In his opening-day speech, Kim admitted his previous economic developmental plans had failed and vowed to lay out a new five-year development plan. On the second day of the meeting, he said he would bolster his country’s military capability.

Kim, who inherited power upon his father Kim Jong Il’s death in late 2011, turned 37 on Friday. His birthday hasn’t yet been designated as a national holiday like his father and grandfather’s. KCNA said the congress would continue, suggesting it was having a fourth-day session on Kim’s birthday.

During Thursday’s session, Kim also called for “thoroughly eliminating non-socialist elements” in North Korean society and proposed ways to promote the “might of the social system of our state.” Kim criticized working people’s organizations including the youth league for allegedly failing to fulfil their duties and said the youth league must prioritize “ideological education” above other tasks, KCNA said.

Kim’s government has been cracking down on what it calls “alien, unsound non-socialist practices.” Last month, state media said North Korea’s parliament legislated “a law on rejecting reactionary ideology and culture.” Analysts say North Korea is guarding against a possible spread of capitalism and looser internal unity amid the economic difficulties.

The congress comes as Kim’s high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump has remained stalled for about two years because of disputes over U.S.-led sanctions on the North. President-elect Joe Biden, who is to take office on Jan. 20, has called Kim a “thug” and is unlikely to hold any direct meeting with him unless North Korea takes serious steps toward denuclearization.

Ties between the Koreas once flourished after Kim entered talks with Trump. But Pyongyang halted exchanges with Seoul and resumed harsh rhetoric against it after Kim’s second summit with Trump in Vietnam in early 2019 collapsed over Trump’s rebuttal of Kim’s push for sweeping sanctions relief in return for a limited denuclearization step.

Some observers say North Korea is frustrated because Seoul has failed to break away from Washington and revive stalled joint economic projects held back by the U.S.-led sanctions. They also speculate North Korea initially thought South Korea would help it win sanctions relief but got upset after Kim returned home empty-handed from the 2019 summit with Trump.

The observers say North Korea may reach out South Korea first to promote reconciliation mood before pushing for talks with the Biden administration. The stalled Kim-Trump diplomacy began after South Korean officials met Kim in early 2018 and conveyed to Washington his intent to deal away his nuclear program in exchange of economic and political benefits.

Hyung-Jin Kim, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Kim vows to improve ties with outside world at party meeting

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