N.Korea continues party plenary meeting for 3rd day

Seoul: A plenary Central Committee meeting of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) has continued for the third day in a row, state media reported on Monday, amid attention being paid to whether it would announce follow-up measures to implement a new partnership treaty with Russia.

The third day of the 10th plenary meeting of the WPK’s eighth Central Committee was held on Sunday “to work out detailed and practical measures for successfully fulfilling the tasks for 2024,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

“The participants are intensifying the discussion while conducting an in-depth study of the draft resolutions to be submitted to the plenary meeting and thoroughly exploring ways to carry out the tasks for the second half of the year entrusted to their sectors and units,” the KCNA said as reported by Yonhap news agency.

The plenary meeting began on Friday, with five agenda items approved by all members of the WPK Central Committee, the KCNA said, without further disclosing other details.

On the second day, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended the meeting to “discuss and decide on a series of important immediate issues arising in maintaining the upturn in the comprehensive development of Korean-style socialism,” it said.

North Korea usually holds a party plenary meeting for a few days in June. But this year’s meeting has drawn more attention due to the possibility that it could discuss detailed measures to expand cooperation with Russia following its signing of a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty with Moscow.

Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a summit in Pyongyang on June 19 and clinched the treaty that calls for providing military assistance to each other without delay if either side comes under an armed attack.

–IANS

int/khz