DPRK ruling party meeting calls for decisive turn in economic development

PYONGYANG - The ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) emphasized the need to straighten economic work system and order at a plenary meeting of the central committee, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Monday.

At the second-day session of the 5th Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) on Sunday, DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un analyzed the problems arising in the overall state building, including state management and economic construction.

Kim put forward in detail the orientation of the struggle for bringing about a decisive turn in the development of the country's economy and people's standard of living, the report said.

Kim "presented the tasks for urgently correcting the grave situation of the major industrial sectors of the national economy," it added.

He also emphasized the need "to take positive and offensive measures for fully ensuring the sovereignty and security of the country as required by the present situation," the KCNA said.

The report said Kim also stressed the issues of intensively struggling against anti-socialism and non-socialism, strengthening the work of the working people's organizations and tightening the moral discipline throughout society.

The KCNA said the plenary meeting "goes on," suggesting it will be a multiple-day meeting.

The plenary meeting came a week after a meeting of the WPK's Central Military Commission that discussed "important organizational and political measures and military steps to bolster" the armed forces.