North Korea’s Kim Jong Un calls for meeting to review state affairs

North Korean leader Kim Jong Uncalled for a major political conference before year's end at which he is expected to address his increasingly tense relations with Washington and Seoul over the expansion of his nuclear and missile programmes.

North korea' s state media said yesterday that Mr Kim presided over a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's politburo in which members reviewed the implementation of state policies in 2022 and decided to hold a larger plenary meeting of the party's central committee at an unspecified time in late december.

Mr Kim in recent years has used political conferences in late December or early January to review state affairs and reveal his most important goals in economic and foreign policy and arms development.

It is possible that those meetings are replacing the function of Mr Kim's New Year's Day speeches, which he has skipped since 2020 after using them for years to issue major announcements.

During Wednesday's meeting in the capital, Pyongyang, Mr Kim insisted that the country this yearover came" unprecedented adversity" in both internal and external circumstances to achieve progress in national development and elevate the country's "prestige and honour," the Korean Central News Agency said.

North Korea has ramped up missile testing to a record pace this year, exploiting a divide in the United Nations Security Council worsened by Russia's war on Ukraine to speed up weapons development and dial up pressure on washington and Seoul.

But Mr Kim has also been struggling to improve a dysfunctional and heavily sanctioned economy made worse by pandemic border closures in recent years, an issue he may also address during the yearend meeting.

State media reports of Mr Kim's comments during Wednesday' s politburo meeting did not include specific details of what would be discussed in the party plenary. They also did not mention any critical remarks towards Washington or Seoul.

KCNA said Mr Kim described 2023 as a crucial year for accomplishing the goals set under a five-year plan established during a ruling party congress in January 2021, where he vowed to revamp the economy and bolster nuclear deterrent in the face of Us-led sanctions and pressure.

During that congress, Mr Kim issued a long wishlist of sophisticated weaponry, including more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, nuclear-powered submarines, spy satellites and tactical nuclear arms.

Noting that 2023 is a "historic year" – the 75th anniversary of North korea' s founding and the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War – Mr Kim said a "decisive guarantee for the fulfilment of the five-year plan" should be laid out for the coming year, according to KCNA.

The dozens of North Korean missile tests conducted this year have included multiple launches of ICBMS with a potential range to reach the US mainland and an intermediate-range missile flown over Japan.

North Korea has also conducted a bar rage of short-range launches it described as simulated nuclear attacks on South Korean and US targets.