Developments on the Economic Front
Difficulties Facing the Economy and Plans to Change the Situation for the Better
The guiding outlook for the economy of the
Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) is "everything for the
people and everything
by relying on them" within an overall
determination of self-reliance.
 The overriding
objective factor for the economy during the past
five
years was the U.S.-led killer sanctions and
blockade of the DPRK --
enforced by Canada as well -- which cause great
hardship for the people, and the ongoing threats
of military
annihilation. In addition the country was battered
yearly with severe
natural disasters and last year with the global
pandemic.
Taking all of this into account, the leader of the
DPRK, Kim Jong Un
said in his Report to the 8th Congress of the
Workers' Party of Korea (WPK),
"the successes of the WPK in the last five
years in its revolutionary struggle and
construction work are no small
matter."
"Last year was a quite difficult year; in the
circumstances of the
world public health crisis that lasted
unprecedentedly long in history,
they consistently ensured a thoroughgoing stable
situation in infectious disease prevention by
stubbornly overcoming the
difficulties, maintaining the conscious unity of
all the people in this
effort, and regarding it as a patriotic duty
devolving on them; they also rose up in the
struggle for recovering
from the natural disasters and built more than
20,000 splendid new
houses in different parts of the country. This
great
achievement left another proud page in our Party's
record of struggle," he said.
Keeping the public safe during the COVID-19
pandemic
In this context, Kim Jong Un explained, "However,
though the period
of implementing the Five-Year Strategy for the
National Economic
Development ended last year, almost all
sectors fell a long way short of the set
objectives." He pointed to the
external and internal challenges that still exist
and that the key to
making a breakthrough is to consolidate the
internal
strength of the DPRK.
The Congress made "a comprehensive and profound
analysis and
judgment of the experiences, lessons and mistakes
we have made during
the period under review and, on this basis,
define the scientific goals and tasks of struggle,
which we can and
must accomplish without fail. The successes we
have already achieved
are priceless for us, and so are the bitter
lessons
that have been accumulated. All these are things
that cannot be
bartered even for gold, and constitute valuable
assets for achieving
fresh victories in the future. We should further
promote
and expand the victories and successes we have
gained at the cost of
our sweat and blood, and prevent the painful
lessons from being
repeated. In particular, we should be bold enough
to
recognize the mistakes which, if left unaddressed,
will grow into
bigger obstacles and stumbling blocks, and take
resolute measures
against their repetition. This Congress has been
convened
on the basis of this pluck and commitment."
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) informed
that underlining the
need to start the work for further developing the
overall economy of
the country under a new five-year plan,
the Report of the 8th Congress analyzed the
present state of the key
industrial sectors including metal, chemical,
electricity, coal,
machine and mining industries and set forth the
tasks for
future development.
The Report given at the second-day sitting
analyzed the situation of
the transport, capital construction and
building-materials industry,
communications, commerce, land and environment
protection, urban management, external economic
relations and other
major sectors and economic management fields and
presented the goals
and practical ways for making innovations and
development in the relevant fields during a new
five-year plan.
The Report also referred to the solutions in
making a tangible
turning point in improving the people's living
standards by achieving
planned and continuous growth of production in the
fields of agriculture, light industry and the fishing
industry, and by
developing cities and counties in an independent
and many-sided way.
It clarified again that there is a significant
determination to
protect the security of the country and people and
the peaceful
environment of socialist construction by reliably
placing the
state defence capability on a much higher level,
and it put forth goals
for realizing that.
The Report also put forward details of important
tasks for promoting
the scientific and technological development of
the country.
"The cause of non-fulfillment of the five-year
strategy for the
national economic development" could not be solely
attributed to the
material conditions. To make such an assessment
would suggest that the human factor "can do
nothing" and "the action
and role of the driving force would be
unnecessary" making it
"impossible to accelerate the revolutionary
struggle and
construction work unless the unfavourable external
factors are removed."
Within the conditions, the Report said the
previous "five-year
strategy for national economic development had not
been properly set on
the basis of scientific calculation and grounds,
that science and technology failed to play the
role of propelling
forward the economic work of the country, and the
work of readjusting
and reinforcing the irrational economic work
system
and discipline was not properly done."
"The economy of the country can never be boosted
without breaking
with the wrong ideological viewpoint,
irresponsible working attitude,
incompetence and obsolete working manner
that have been prevalent so far," the Report
concluded. By transforming
the subjective conditions, the problems and damage
of the objective
conditions can be overcome.
The economic strategy for the next five years is
to put "our economy
on a normal track to run smoothly without being
affected by any
external influence" and give material expression
to self-reliance and the economy's full potential.
This means to
concentrate on the internal organization of the
national economy and
the development of all its sectors and links from
one
department to the next so as to improve the
people's standard of living.
The main industrial departments that require
investment and focus to
improve and normalize production are the metal and
chemical industries,
the production of the material and
machinery necessary for industry to flourish,
especially agriculture,
the local supply of raw material and equipment for
the production of
articles of consumption and the generation of
electricity.
Nationwide planned self-reliance and
self-sufficiency through the
mobilization of the people and the use of science,
modern technology
and increased investments in education are
essential in "perfecting the self-supporting
structure of the national
economy, lowering the proportion of dependence on
imports and
stabilizing the people's standard of living."
This article was published in
Volume 51 Number 5 - February 21, 2021
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2021/Articles/MS51054.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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