Seoul | North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for improving living standards in rural areas of North Korea, saying the lack of basic needs was a “serious political problem,” state agency KCNA said.
“Today, the inability to satisfactorily provide basic necessities such as spices, food and consumer goods to people in local areas has become a serious political problem that our Party and our government cannot avoid,” Kim Jong Un said.
According to KCNA, Mr. Kim chaired a Workers' Party meeting from Tuesday to Wednesday and regional development was high on the agenda.
The North Korean number one noted in particular “serious imbalances and large gaps” between regions, while the overall situation of the regional economy is “in a terrible situation.”
“At present, a very urgent task is to improve the material and cultural living standards of the regions' population,” he added.
The nuclear-armed country has a fragile economy and has often been accused of prioritizing its military and banned missile programs over the well-being of its people.
North Korea was repeatedly hit by famine, with hundreds of thousands of people – some estimates put the number at several million – dying in the mid-1990s.
Experts say North Korea's economy has only slumped since the reclusive country closed its borders in 2020 to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, undermining its foreign trade and melting its foreign exchange reserves.
Despite this dire economic situation, Pyongyang has accelerated its weapons tests in 2024, including those of an “undersea nuclear weapon system” and a hypersonic solid-fuel ballistic system.