NK leader orders 'important revolutionary measures' for rural development

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has presided over the second-day session of a key party plenary to discuss rural development measures, Pyongyang's state media reported Wednesday amid its drive to tackle nagging economic woes.

During the meeting held 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 under way, 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."

According to a state media report last month, construction of houses was "getting brisk in rural villages" of the country under a party plan to turn them into "model socialist fairylands."

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 percent on-year in 2020, from 0.4 percent growth a year earlier, government data showed.

The KCNA report said, "The meeting is continuing the discussion of the agenda items," indicating there will be a third-day session.

It is unclear for how long the party gathering will last as the North has not made public the exact schedule. Previous plenary meetings were held between one and four days. (Yonhap)