N.K. calls on beefed-up efforts for 'self-reliance' to achieve five-year economic plan

SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's official newspaper Thursday urged stepped-up efforts to realize a self-reliant economy and carry out key policy goals unveiled in a rare party meeting earlier this month.

At the eighth congress of the ruling Workers' Party earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un admitted the failure to meet the country's previous five-year development goals and put forward a new five-year plan focusing on self-reliance.

"The socialist economic construction is the most crucial task facing us today, and all-out efforts to achieve the five-year plan accompany a fierce battle against enemies," the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the North's ruling party, said in an editorial.

"Our only way to live and our only way forward is to wage a deadly battle for the five-year plan and to build a continually developing economy unwavering under any external circumstances," it added.

The paper stressed the importance of reducing dependence on imported goods while recycling and using local materials to build a "self-reliant structure" in the economy.

It also called on officials and the ruling party to bring about actual results, saying that "the whole world is watching how we achieve the economic policies put forward by our party."

The North appears to be seeking realistic ways to achieve a self-reliant economy amid multiple challenges, including its ongoing antivirus campaign, devastation caused by typhoons and economic woes from global sanctions.

julesyi@yna.co.kr
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