North Korea Orders 'Discipline' for Executing Five-Year Economic Plan Ahead of Plenary Meeting

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] North Korea has called for strict discipline to enforce the new five-year economic plan ahead of the third plenary meeting of the Workers' Party Central Committee this year, held after six months.

The Workers' Party's official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, reported on the 7th in an article titled "Issues Arising in Economic Organizational Work and Command," stating, "The new five-year plan presented by the Party is the Party's directive and the law of the state."

Rodong Sinmun emphasized strong discipline, saying, "No one has the right to violate the people's economic plan; there is only the obligation to implement it," and "If even one unit violates the plan's discipline, related units will be affected, and furthermore, it will cause significant obstacles to overall economic development."

As a measure to strengthen discipline, it proposed production summary (analysis). Rodong Sinmun stated, "Thorough implementation of the people's economic plan must be supported by the revolutionary and conscious struggle of the masses along with a rigorous summary," and warned against inadequate summarization or merely listing the status of plan implementation.

The emphasis on discipline and summary for executing the five-year plan by Rodong Sinmun appears to be because Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of North Korea, is stressing achieving this year's goals, the first year of the five-year plan.

At a Politburo meeting on the 4th, General Secretary Kim evaluated, "Many planned projects are being promoted prospectively by the ideological enthusiasm of the entire Party and people, which was greatly elevated by the 8th Party Congress, and the fighting spirit of self-reliance," and convened the plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee, stating, "It is necessary to accurately summarize the overall state of national affairs in the first half of the year and devise additional measures to promptly correct biased issues." He evaluated the implementation status of this year's policies.