Kim Jong-un's admission of failure shows serious economic situation in North Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during the eighth congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, Tuesday, according the Korean Central News Agency, Wednesday. YonhapBy Do Je-hae North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's opening address at the eighth congress of the Workers' Party of Korea was marked by a rare public acknowledgement of mistakes in the leadership's five-year economic strategy from 2016 through 2020 amid three major disasters that hit the North ― the COVID-19 pandemic, international sanctions, and storm-related flooding and infrastructure damage.The five-year strategy was established to increase production in agriculture and light industry and normalize core industries such as coal, steel, railways, fisheries and machinery; improve the electricity supply problem through the construction of power plants and the repairing of power distribution networks; expand its trade and cooperation; and build more economic development zones and tourism projects.“The five-year strategic implementation period for national economic development ended last year, but we fell far short of the
