AFP: North Korea has opened a year-end ruling party meeting attended by leader Kim Jong Un, state media said Wednesday, with key policy decisions for 2024 expected to be unveiled.
Abandoning a once-traditional New Year’s Day speech, Kim has in recent years used the Workers’ Party of Korea’s plenary meeting as a platform to outline policies in areas such as security, diplomacy and the economy. This year’s meeting caps off a year in which Pyongyang successfully launched a reconnaissance satellite, enshrined its status as a nuclear power in its constitution and test-fired its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
At Tuesday’s meeting, Kim defined 2023 as a “year of great turn and great change” as well as one of “great importance”, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported.
Pyongyang saw “eye-opening victories and events achieved in all fields for socialist construction and the strengthening of the national power,” Kim said, according to KCNA..