Kumsusan palace, Mausoleum in Pyongyang, North Korea

Seoul, Dec 29 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has presided over the second-day session of a key party plenary to discuss rural development measures amid the country's drive to tackle economic woes, Pyongyang's state media reported on Wednesday.During the meeting on Tuesday, Kim "set forth medium- and long-term development strategies and major tasks for attaining the grand goal of rural development in line with the realistic conditions and the requirement of the times", according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).North Korea opened the 4th Plenary Meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's 8th Central Committee on Monday amid expectations Pyongyang could unveil its new policy directions on the economy and foreign affairs for the new year.Tuesday's meeting dealt with "rural questions" to which Kim took "important revolutionary measures", the KCNA said without elaborating on what they were."The new program on socialist rural construction won full support and approval by the participants in the meeting," the report said.North Korea has been calling for the "face-lifting" of local areas as a first step of "building a powerful country".In November, Kim visited the northwestern city of Samjiyon, where a major development project is underway, and called it a "picturesque model unit in rural buildup" and a starting point "in making the people in local areas witness a leaping progress to a highly civilized material and cultural life".The North's emphasis on rural development comes as the country struggles from crippling sanctions and protracted pandemic-driven border closures.Its economy is estimated to have shrunk 4.5 per cent on-year in 2020, from 0.4 per cent growth a year earlier, government data showed.Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Kumsusan PalaceFOLLOW

Kumsusan palace, Latest News

Seoul, Jan 6 North Korea on Thursday announced that it has successfully conducted a test-firing of a hypersonic ... ...

Seoul, Jan 3 The man who crossed the eastern inter-Korean border into North Korea over the weekend was ... ...

Seoul, Jan 3 North Korea remains unresponsive after South Korea sent a message about an unidentified person having ... ...

Seoul, Jan 1 North Korean officials noting the "growing instability" of the military situation on the peninsula, emphasised ... ...

Seoul, Dec 31 The US-led UN Command (UNC) said on Friday that it passed a total of 86 ... ...

Seoul, Dec 31 North Korea has discussed a draft resolution expected to be adopted at the closing of ... ...

Seoul, Dec 30 North Korea has discussed the country's budget for the new year at the third-day session ... ...

Seoul, Dec 29 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has presided over the second-day session of a key party ... ...