KOREAN PENINSULA ‘Mystery issue’ focus of rare North Korean meet
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is convening a key ruling party body on Wednesday for the first time in eight months to address a “crucial” mystery issue. He’s got plenty of tricky situations to choose from.
The state’s official Korean Central News Agency offered few clues about the gathering of the Central Committee, saying it will “discuss and decide on an issue of crucial significance in developing the Korean revolution and increasing the fighting efficiency of the Party.” It didn’t elaborate.
Kim is facing difficulties on various fronts, both at home and abroad. Floods have wiped out farmland to deal another blow to the virus-hit economy, while a reported health scare earlier this year raised questions about succession. His nuclear discussions with President Donald Trump have also ground to a halt without him winning any sanctions relief, and the U.S. and South Korea this week kicked off joint military drills.
“The unusual succession of party meetings in recent months — and possibly even the lack of much North Korean activity on the foreign policy front of late, for example weapons testing — suggest the quarantine measures and the global pandemic have had serious ramifications for the economy and the people’s living standards,” said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a former U.S. government analyst specializing in North Korea.
North Korea has boasted that it doesn’t have any confirmed cases of Covid-19,
a claim doubted by U.S. and Japanese officials. The virus brings large risk to the impoverished state, whose antiquated medical systems could be overwhelmed by a large outbreak.
The meeting will be the first time the Central Committee has convened since a four-day marathon session in late December, when Kim called for a “frontal breakthrough” to build up the economy and state security. He also warned Trump that North Korea was no longer bound by his pledge to stop major missile tests.
Key party meetings often lead to a shake up of cadres, which could mean new powers for his prominent sister Kim Yo Jong and a purge of those seen as falling down on the virus or the economy. At a politburo meeting last week, Kim sacked the premier he appointed a little more than a year ago, removed the southern border city of Kaesong from virus lockdown and said he would not accept foreign food aid because of the risk posed by the pandemic.
North Korea has been hit by flooding since earlier this month. It has also impacted its Yongbyon nuclear facility, with waters reaching pump houses for mothballed reactors, the 38 North website said based on an analysis of satellite imagery.
Kim needs to urge his officials to help boost the economy before the 75th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party on October 10, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul who has advised the South Korean government over the years.