Kim Jong Un, the Chairman of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, criticized South Korea for exacerbating tensions by pursuing nuclear submarine capabilities and holding a meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) with the United States.
On June 23, North Korean state media, including the Korean Central News Agency and Rodong Sinmun, reported that a plenary meeting of the Workers' Party's Central Committee, chaired by Kim, took place over three days starting June 20. This plenary session serves as a forum for discussing and deciding on major issues in North Korea during the intervals between party congresses, which occur every five years.
During the meeting, Kim outlined the party and state policy directions and the short- and long-term tasks ahead, declaring that important conclusions were reached. The report stated that the meeting unanimously recognized that continuously expanding and strengthening nuclear capabilities and thoroughly exercising the status of a nuclear power is the most accurate and only way to proactively and confidently respond to the unpredictably changing international military and political landscape.
The conclusions emphasized that "more extensive, innovative, and encouraging plans related to nuclear technology will be accelerated." Kim also instructed that efforts to enhance powerful defense assets should continue without pause, aiming to achieve a level that can overwhelm the world.
The meeting highlighted the push for the construction of a 10,000-ton 'strategic guided missile cruiser,' a project decided by the Central Military Commission on April 4.
Additionally, the meeting reaffirmed a hostile foreign policy toward South Korea. The report stated that all foreign relations should be actively developed with a focus on national interests and strengthening the country, emphasizing the need to adhere strictly to the party's principle of treating South Korea as the most hostile nation.
The recent sixth meeting of the U.S.-South Korea Nuclear Consultative Group in Seoul was also criticized. The report claimed that the more dangerous aspect is that the U.S. and South Korea are once again conducting military simulations under the guise of the NCG, which it described as a nuclear war mechanism aimed at attacking the North, pushing the Korean Peninsula closer to the brink of nuclear war.
The meeting also involved organizational changes within the Workers' Party. Jo Yong-won, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, was appointed as the head of the party's Organization Guidance Department. The position of Chairman of the Standing Committee, which became vacant, will be filled at a future Supreme People's Assembly meeting.
Kim Jae-ryong, a member of the Political Bureau and party secretary, was dismissed from his position. While specific reasons for his dismissal were not disclosed, it appears to be a response to organizational management failures, as the military's General Political Bureau has decided to refer Park Hee-cheol, head of the organization, to legal authorities over corruption allegations.
North Korea identified the revitalization of the coal industry as a key economic task and decided to modernize housing in coal mining towns starting next year.
Professor Lim Eul-chul of Kyungnam University’s Far East Institute analyzed that North Korea aims to solidify its status as a nuclear power by thoroughly exploiting the geopolitical divisions of the international landscape (new Cold War) and shifting the blame for rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula to South Korea's military buildup, reaffirming its stance as the "most hostile nation."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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