Seoul (South Korea), February 12: North Korean Foreign Minster Ri Son-gwon has been elected a member of the powerful politburo of the ruling Workers' Party, state media reported Friday.
Ri was by-elected as a politburo member during a four-day plenary meeting of the party's eighth Central Committee that wrapped up on Thursday, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
Kim Song-nam, another ranking party official, was also named an alternate member of the politburo, while O Su-yong was elected as director of the party's Department of Economic Affairs, the KCNA said.
North Korea convened the plenary Central Committee meeting this week to discuss how to implement the first year's tasks of a five-year economic development plan and other objectives set forth during last month's party congress.
Leader Kim Jong-un attended the multi-day meeting and reported on economic and other domestic issues, criticizing economic agencies for "passive, self-protecting tendencies."
Kim rapped the Cabinet for failing to play a leadership role in putting together workable economic development plans, saying some objectives were set unrealistically high as the Cabinet simply added up numbers put forward by each ministry, the KCNA said.
The farming sector also set its food production targets too high despite difficulties in securing farming device and materials, Kim was quoted as saying.
Kim admitted to a shortage of electricity, saying that production in coal mines and other facilities remain stalled due to lack of power.
The KCNA said Kim stressed that North Korea should draw up a direction for its economic plans that can display "the potential of self-supporting economy and stabilizing the people's living to the maximum."
Among various economic tasks, Kim ordered officials to improve the country's railway situation and push forward major construction projects, which include construction of houses for 10,000 families in Pyongyang, KCNA reported.
"State economic guidance organs should emerge from old-fashioned force of habit by which they used to put the blame on bad condition, complaining lack of authority, and take a hands-off approach towards the national economy and actively wage a campaign for overcoming economical difficulties and obstacles," KCNA said, citing the report on the meeting.
The leader also specified policy directions for inter-Korean relations and external matters but the KCNA did not provide more details.
At last month's party congress, Kim vowed to advance nuclear capabilities, calling the United States its biggest enemy, and said any change in currently chilled inter-Korean relations will depend upon South Korea's future attitude.
A plenary session of the party's Central Committee usually takes place at least once a year to decide its key policy line, organization reshuffles and other major issues.
This week's meeting was second of its kind this year after the first plenary meeting of the committee was held last month during the party congress.
Source: Yonhap