SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un thanked the public for their trust and support “in difficult times” and wished them happiness and good health on their first New Year cards sent to their people.
Kim usually gives a televised speech on January 1, but he is widely expected to ignore him this year as he will hold the country’s first ruling party congress in five years in early January.
“I will work hard to bring the new era to an earlier age in which the ideals and desires of our people will come true,” Kim said in his letter, according to the Central News Agency in Korea.
“I thank people for invariably trusting and supporting our party, even in difficult times,” he said. “I sincerely wish all families in the country more happiness and loved ones, good health.”
North Korea is one of the most enclosed countries in the world and it is virtually impossible to independently confirm that all of its 25 million inhabitants have received Kim’s cards. The cards were the first that a leader has sent to North Koreans since 1995.
Kim, who succeeded his father as a North Korean leader in late 2011, faces the biggest challenges of his nine-year government due to the pandemic, several natural disasters last summer and persistent US-led sanctions amid diplomatic stalemate over his nuclear program.
Kim will likely use the Workers’ Party congress as a place to bring together stronger unity and set new development goals for the years to come.
The closure of North Korea’s border with China, its biggest trading partner, related to the pandemic, is hurting the economy. Bilateral trade volume in the first 11 months of 2020 fell by about 79% over the same period in 2019, said analyst Song Jaeguk of the IBK Economic Research Institute in Seoul.
The congress, the first since 2006, is officially the party’s main decision-making body, although real day-to-day decisions are made by Kim and his close associates. The stamp delegate corps is expected to support Kim’s new initiatives without much debate.
State media did not say when exactly the meeting will take place. In 2006, the congress lasted four days.
At the beginning of the new year, a large crowd filled the main square in Pyongyang to attend fireworks, a concert and a flag-raising ceremony. State TV showed people wearing masks and heavy coats, waving and standing together.
North Korea has firmly stated that it is free from the coronavirus – a dubious claim by outsiders. But experts also say that any outbreaks were probably not widespread and therefore North Korea considered it safe to hold major events like the party’s congress in Pyongyang.
Also on Friday, North Korea said it successfully completed “an 80-day battle”, a productivity campaign it usually launches to pressure citizens to work overtime and report higher production figures before major political events. During the congress, experts say that North Korea will likely highlight the building of a stronger self-reliant economy to face the difficulties in trying to pressure people to work harder.
KCNA said that “the advancement of all people through self-reliance” has achieved “a proud victory in the historic 80-day battle”. He said the North Koreans have met or exceeded the new quotas set on factories, mines, farms, flood recovery works, anti-coronavirus measures and several other areas.