Saturday, January 01, 2022
Unusual New Years address
Kim talks more about factories than America
Usually, Kim Jong Un uses his New Years address to make important foreign policy announcements or to reveal military plans. But this time the North Korean ruler’s speech is more about domestic issues. The reason is likely to be the economic crisis in the country.
In his speech at the end of the year, North Korean head of state Kim Jong Un talked more about tractor factories and school uniforms than about nuclear weapons or the USA. The state media reported that North Korea’s goals for 2022 were to revive the economy and improve people’s living conditions “in the great struggle for life and death.”
The domestic political focus of the speech revealed the economic crisis the country has been in since it became even more cordoned off due to the corona pandemic. The speech ended the plenary session of the eighth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in 2021. The meeting coincided with the tenth anniversary of Kim Jong Un’s assumption of leadership of the country after his father’s death in 2011.
Kim has often used New Year’s addresses in the past to make significant political announcements. In 2018 he announced a delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, and in 2019 he declared his wish for further talks with the then US President Donald Trump.
“Kim has used his New Year speeches in the past to accommodate the US and South Korea, but also to reveal nuclear weapon development and other military plans,” wrote the Seoul-based NK News website that oversaw the activities North Korea observed.
North Korea recently said it was open to resumption of talks on condition that the Washington and Seoul governments take steps to end “hostile policies” such as sanctions and military exercises. The deliberations between North Korea and the US about stopping the North Korean nuclear and missile program in return for an easing of US sanctions have been stalled for some time.