Kim Jong Un holds strategic conference

PYONGYANG: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has presided over the first day of a high-level meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party that is to discuss strategic planning for the coming months, state media reported on Tuesday.

The plenary meeting, one of the highest-level decision-making bodies in the country, opened on Monday amid problems posed by the coronavirus pandemic and a diplomatic deadlock with the United States.

A report from the state news agency KCNA said the conference would review this year’s policies and decide on “the strategic and tactical policies and practical tasks for dynamically guiding the struggle of our party and people to usher in a new period of the

development of socialist construction to the next stage of victory.’’

What problems does North Korea face?

North Korea is facing international sanctions over its nuclear weapons program, which has been expanded under Kim during his 10 years at the helm.

The program has brought the country into conflict notably with the US, which has imposed multiple sanctions along with several other countries, the UN and the EU.

Negotiations between North Korea and the US have been at a standstill since a failed meeting between former US Fresident Donald Trump and Kim in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February 2019.