North Korea to hold key party meeting amid economic woes
Source: AP
By KIM TONG-HYUNG
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea will open a high-profile political conference on Wednesday to discuss unspecified “crucial” issues as it struggles to keep afloat a sanctions-ravaged economy hit further by its anti-virus efforts and devastating flooding.
The ruling Workers’ Party elite will determine a matter of “crucial significance in developing the Korean revolution” and increasing the party’s “fighting efficiency” during Wednesday’s plenary meeting of its Central Committee, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday. It didn’t provide further details, including the agenda of the meeting.
The announcement of the meeting came as the United States and South Korea began their annual summertime military exercises, which have been scaled down this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
North Korean official media have yet to comment on this year’s drills, which mainly involve computer-simulated war scenarios. North Korea usually bristles at the allies’ combined training, which it describes as an invasion rehearsal, and has recently threatened to abandon stalled nuclear talks unless Washington discards what it perceives as “hostile” policies toward the North.
FILE - In this Aug. 13 2020, file photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a ruling party meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea will open a high-profile political conference on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020 to discuss unspecified “crucial” crucial issues as it struggles to keep afloat a sanctions-ravaged economy hit further by a global pandemic and devastating flooding. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
Read more: https://apnews.com/2373be5b059d4a2f6c4aaea31573bb74
= new reply since forum marked as read
