Nkorea’s Kim takes title of party general secretary
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was given the title of general secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party formerly held by his late father and grandfather, state media reported Monday in a move apparently aimed at bolstering his authority amid growing economic challenges.
The designation was North Korea’s latest step taken Sunday during its first ruling party congress since 2016.
During the meeting, Kim also vowed to build more sophisticated nuclear weapons, disclosed economic developmental goals and reshuffled party officials. But observers doubt whether such moves can offer North Korea any substantial solutions to difficulties that include coronavirus-related economic shocks, natural disasters and persistent U.s.-led sanctions.
When Kim Jong Un inherited the country’s leadership upon his father’s death in late 2011, some foreign experts initially questioned his grip on power. But Kim, who turned 37 on Friday, has consolidated his power through highprofile executions and purges that removed potential rivals. His other top jobs include chairman of the State Affairs Commission and supreme commander of North Korea’s 1.2 millionmember military, along with the top party post.
During congress meetings last week, Kim labeled the U.S. as “our foremost principal enemy” and disclosed a list of high-tech nuclear weapons systems under development to cope with what he called intensifying American hostility. He said t relations between Pyongyang and Washington depend on the U.S. abandoning its hostile policy.
Kim acknowledged that a previous five-year economic development plan failed and disclosed a new economic plan that focuses on building a stronger self-supporting economy and reducing reliance on imports. He said the new plans would include more investments in the metal and chemical industries, and increasing the production of consumer goods.
Kim’s latest nuclear threats were likely meant to pressure Presidentelect Joe Biden to resume diplomacy and make concessions after he takes office next week. But some experts say Biden, who has criticized Kim’s madefor-camera summits with President Donald Trump, won’t do so. They say Kim’s new economic plan lacks substance, and that much of North Korea’s chronic economic difficulties are a result of its decades of mismanagement, self-imposed isolation and U.s.-led sanctions imposed because of the nuclear program.
“There was no willingness demonstrated to take denuclearization steps for sanctions relief,” said Leif-eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “His new economic plan doesn’t look that new, as it continues the fiction of self-reliant production to advance North Korean-style socialism.
“It’s one thing to present an ambitious list of economic and military goals, but quite another to pay for and implement them,” he said.
Among the notable personnel changes announced was the name of Kim Jong Un’s influential sister, Kim Yo Jong, missing from a new lineup for the party’s powerful Politburo. She retained her membership at the party’s Central Committee.