Fifth Enlarged Plenary Meeting of Eighth WPK Central Committee Held

The Fifth Enlarged Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea was held at a conference hall of the office building of the Party Central Committee from June 8 to 10, Juche 111 (2022) amid the accelerated all-people grand advance for glorifying this historic year as a great watershed in developing the revolution while braving the unprecedented difficulties facing the nation with the faith, will and unity peculiar to Juche Korea under the guidance of the ever-victorious Party Central Committee. 

The meeting, convened amid great expectations and attention of all the Party members and other people of the country, made an interim review of the implementation of the major Party and state policies for 2022, which are of important significance in carrying out the decisions of the Eighth Party Congress, decided on the work orientation and struggle policies for the second half of the year and discussed the action plans for powerfully and correctly pushing ahead with the important national affairs.

Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, attended the meeting.

When he took the platform, all the participants burst into thunderous cheers as a token of their highest tribute to him, the great leader of the WPK and outstanding leader of the Juche revolution.

The meeting was attended by the members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee, members and alternate members of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee and members and alternate members of the WPK Central Committee.

Present as observers were officials of the departments of the Party Central Committee and leading officials from ministries, national agencies, provincial-level guidance organs, cities, counties and major industrial establishments.

The presidium of the meeting was formed by members of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee.

The Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee authorized General Secretary Kim Jong Un to preside over the meeting.

The General Secretary referred to the purpose and importance of the convening of the plenary meeting.

He said that the first half of the year witnessed the accumulation of weighty experience and lessons in the overall state affairs through the efforts for firmly preserving the struggle orientation to carry out the tasks set forth at the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the WPK and dauntlessly tiding over a number of ordeals and crises.

He noted that the harsh situation accompanied by the severe health crisis requires us to correctly see through the current national hardship and proactively take far-sighted steps to cope with any future sudden trials.

He stressed that the purpose and importance of the current meeting is to encourage and enlarge the positive achievements, made in the struggle for the first half of the year to implement the policies of the Party and the state for 2022 set forth at the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth WPK Central Committee, remedy shortcomings, provide a timely and scientific guarantee for the fulfillment of the colossal tasks for this year and awaken and rally the entire Party and all the people once again.

The following agenda items were brought up at the meeting:

1. Organizational matters

2. On the interim review of the implementation of the major Party and state policies for 2022 and measures

3. On the tasks for controlling the current emergency anti-epidemic situation and building up the state anti-epidemic capability

4. On amending and supplementing some parts of the Party rules and the guide to them

The meeting unanimously approved the agenda items.

The first agenda item, an organizational matter, was discussed.

Members and alternate members of the WPK Central Committee were recalled and by-elected.

Pak Ji Min, Pak Su Il and Choe Son Hui, alternate members of the Party Central Committee, were by-elected as members of the Party Central Committee. Jo Chun Ryong, Pak Hui Chol, Kim In Chol, Ri Chang Dae and Han Kwang Sang were directly by-elected as members of the Party Central Committee.

Jang Chang Min, Kim Sun Chol, Sin Chang Nam, Ma Hyok Chol, Pak Hyong Ryol, Kwak Jong Jun, Ri Tu Il, Kim Tu Il, Kwak Yong Ho, Ryo Chol Ung, An Yong Hwan and Jon Sung Guk were by-elected as alternate members of the Party Central Committee.

Members and alternate members of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee were recalled and by-elected.

Jon Hyon Chol and Ri Thae Sop, alternate members of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee, were by-elected as members of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee. Pak Thae Song was directly elected as member of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee to fill a vacancy.

Jo Chun Ryong, Pak Su Il, Ri Chang Dae, Choe Son Hui and Han Kwang Sang were by-elected as alternate members of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee.

Secretaries of the Party Central Committee were dismissed and elected.

Kim Jae Ryong, Jon Hyon Chol and Pak Thae Song were elected as secretaries of the Party Central Committee.

Members of the Central Military Commission of the Party were recalled and by-elected.

Ri Thae Sop, Jo Kyong Chol, Pak Su Il and Ri Chang Ho were by-elected as members of the Central Military Commission of the Party.

Department directors of the Party Central Committee were dismissed and appointed.

Jo Yong Won, Jo Chun Ryong, Jon Hyon Chol, Ri Chung Gil, Ri Son Gwon and Han Kwang Sang were appointed as department directors of the Party Central Committee.

The chairman and a member of the Central Inspection Commission of the WPK were recalled and by-elected.

Kim Jae Ryong was by-elected as chairman of the Central Inspection Commission of the Party and Kim In Chol as its member.

Some cadres of government organs were dismissed or appointed.

Jon Sung Guk was appointed vice-premier of the Cabinet, Choe Son Hui minister of Foreign Affairs, Pak Hyong Ryol minister of Food Industry, Kwak Jong Jun minister of Commerce, Ri Tu Il chairman of the State Commission of Science and Technology, Kim Tu Il director of the Political Bureau of the Cabinet and concurrently chief secretary of its Party Committee.

The meeting examined and approved the proposal on a partial reshuffle of the armed forces organs put forward by the Central Military Commission of the WPK.

Ri Thae Sop was appointed chief of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army, Jong Kyong Thaek director of the KPA General Political Bureau, Pak Su Il minister of Public Security and Ri Chang Dae minister of State Security.

The meeting discussed the second agenda item “On the interim review of the implementation of the major Party and state policies for 2022 and measures.”

Kim Tok Hun, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, vice-president of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and premier of the Cabinet, reported to the meeting the results of the state work in the first half of the year for implementing the economic policies for 2022 assigned by the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Party.

He detailed the successes and shortcomings witnessed in the work for implementing the economic policies of the Party.

Ri Chol Man, department director of the Central Committee of the WPK, reported to the meeting the state of this year’s farming.

The Party Central Committee heard, analyzed and appreciated the reports.

The General Secretary made a conclusion on the second agenda item.

He first referred to the successes gained in the state political activities and management, the state development and the work for reacting to and controlling crisis for the past six months.

The first half of the year witnessed the striking demonstration of the irresistible might of Juche-oriented socialism to the world on several political occasions along with the efforts for giving full play to the spirit of our idea-, our system- and our state-first principle and further consolidating the single-minded unity of our Party, state and people.

Responsible and indispensable measures were taken and a resolute struggle launched to cope with the ever-changing international political situation and the ever-aggravating security environment of the Korean peninsula and its vicinity. As a result, historic progress was made in consolidating the foundation of guarantee and trust in the national security.

The economic sector strived to implement the decisions made at the plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee on increasing the overall production and laying a firm guarantee for carrying out the five-year plan, thus enabling its many fields to boost their production and keeping the trend of development of the overall economy.

The success deserving important appreciation in implementing the state economic policies is that the stability and developing speed are being surely kept in the sudden emergency anti-epidemic situation.

The economic sector rapidly tackled the temporary confusion despite the activation of the maximum emergency state anti-epidemic system and the nation-wide lockdown, and scrupulously organized and commanded the work for acclimatizing to the emergency situation so as to strenuously push forward with the implementation of the economic policies.

For the past one month since the activation of the maximum emergency anti-epidemic system, the economic sector has further developed its capability for coping with crisis and undergone the days of nurturing its ability for meticulously guiding operation, thus gaining and drawing invaluable experience and lessons.

The construction sector has pushed ahead with the projects for building large modern streets for people’s better living conditions and environment and with construction of various production bases as a follow-up to the last year’s efforts. So, important projects are nearing completion.

Precious successes were made in the work to update the major national industrial bases and set an example in developing the local industry, true to the decisions of the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Party Central Committee.

The agricultural sector has directed efforts to wheat and barley farming and simultaneously and vigorously propelled the campaign for combating drought and springtime farming, thus displaying a new ideological viewpoint and enthusiastic working manner of going all out for the implementation of the Party’s policies.

Appreciating that the deepened confidence of all the people in the Party’s leadership and policies is, indeed, a valuable political success never to be compared with any material assets, the General Secretary declared the will of the Party Central Committee to lead all state affairs to success so as to powerfully promote the faster development in all sectors.

The conclusion pointed out the deviations manifested in implementing the policies of the Party and the state in the first half of the year and their causes, and referred to the ways and Party measures for tackling them.

The General Secretary clarified the tasks for thoroughly implementing the economic policies of the Party and the state in the second half of the year, stressing the importance of making a new turn in economic guidance and management with the plenary meeting as an occasion.

The conclusion set forth in detail the work orientation and the practical measures to be taken in key industrial sectors including metal, chemical, electrical power and coal industries in the second half of the year.

It set farming and consumer goods production as the most urgent of the economic tasks for this year.

It also referred to the practical ways for powerfully accelerating the implementation of the Party’s agricultural policy. Among them are the issue of making the Party’s new agricultural revolutionary policy prove effective from the first year of its enforcement by successfully concluding the farming of wheat and barley planted as earlier crops, the issue of directing all efforts to making full advance preparations for protecting crops from natural disasters to the maximum, the issue of putting manuring and cultivation of crops on a scientific basis, the issue of increasing the proportion of the farm work done by machines and the issue of intensifying guidance on scientific farming and rendering stronger state support to farming.

It specified the feasible measures to be taken in the light industrial sector to substantially promote the living standard of the people by waging a vigorous campaign for increased production on the principle of giving priority to fulfilling the demands of the people in their life.

It set forth the fighting tasks the construction sector should fulfill by completing without fail this year’s important building projects one after another to demonstrate the mettle of Korean-style socialism to the world.

It importantly mentioned the issue of helping agricultural workers realize in practice the validity and vitality of the programme for socialist rural construction of our Party by making sure that the Cabinet, all provinces, cities and counties carry out without fail the first year’s task for the rural housing construction launched on a full scale this year, the issue of regarding science and technology as the lifeline of economic development and concentrating state efforts on rapidly developing science and the issue of decisively renovating the economic management.

In the conclusion the General Secretary placed a special emphasis on having a proper viewpoint on education at present.

Saying that education is not the work whose results are immediately visible but the long-term one and that exact efforts for it are the springboard to future development, he called for further enhancing guidance and assistance to the nationwide improvement in education, including the Party and policy-oriented guidance on the educational work and technical guidance on educational contents.

The conclusion stressed the importance of the roles of literature and arts and media in dynamically encouraging the all-people advance this year, which is accompanied by unprecedented severe trials, and giving full play to the revolutionary spirit of implementing the Party’s policies on all fronts of socialist construction, and indicated the orientation of the struggle for them.

The General Secretary stressed the need to steadily direct great efforts to strengthening the national defence capability.

The current security environment of the country is very serious and the surrounding situation carries a danger of being further aggravated. This urgently calls upon the DPRK to attain the goal of bolstering the national defence capability as soon as possible.

The General Secretary said that the right to self-defence is an issue of defending sovereignty, clarifying once again the Party’s invariable fighting principle of power for power and head-on contest. And he set forth the militant tasks to be pushed forward by the armed forces of the Republic and the national defence research sector.

The conclusion clarified the principles and strategic and tactical orientations to be maintained in the struggle against the enemy and in the field of foreign affairs.

It strictly analyzed and reviewed the struggle against anti-socialist and non-socialist practices conducted in the first half of the year and referred to the principled issues arising in steadily enhancing the intensity of the struggle.

It indicated the directions of work to achieve a signal success by enhancing the responsibility, role and organizing ability of the Party organizations at all levels and their officials and conducting the Party’s guidance over the economic work in an effective way.

The General Secretary called for opening up a new phase of the vigorous state development by taking the current harsh and difficult period unprecedented in the history as an opportunity of getting stronger and more tested and displaying the firm will and staunch and strenuous spirit and for doing our best to make every work for this year be correctly executed at the scheduled development speed.

Finishing the conclusion, the General Secretary called for successfully carrying out the plans for this year of great significance by focusing all efforts on them, mindful that the fulfillment of the national economic plan means loyalty towards the Party and the people and devoted service to them.

With the enthusiastic cheers, all the participants expressed full support and approval of the conclusion made by the General Secretary, which indicated the struggle stratagem for strengthening the leadership and fighting efficiency of the Party in every way as required by the developing revolution and proactively overcoming all existing difficulties and obstacles with their absolute might to strongly propel the period of comprehensive development of socialism.

His important conclusion serves as a valuable action programme and a powerful militant banner as it showed the clearest guideline of struggle and scientific ways for reversing the current severe situation into an opportunity of bolstering our own strength and internal driving force and making definite progress in the year 2022, an important stage in implementing the five-year plan of development and change.

The meeting discussed the third agenda item “On the tasks for controlling the current emergency anti-epidemic situation and building up the state anti-epidemic capability.”

The General Secretary made a report clarifying the strategic and tactical plans for finally defusing the malignant epidemic crisis, restoring the stability and vigorously promoting the building of the state anti-epidemic capability, its capacity to cope with crisis.

He referred to the intention to discuss the anti-epidemic issue as a separate agenda item at the current plenary meeting after several major Party meetings which had discussed the emergency anti-epidemic since the outbreak of the malignant pandemic.

He said that under the current situation in which the state anti-epidemic work entered a new stage of turning into prevention work based on blockade and eradication of the epidemic from the blockade-based prevention after the unexpected serious crisis, the urgent task facing our Party and state is to immediately remedy the shortcomings and evils in the anti-epidemic work and take decisive steps for building up the country’s epidemic prevention capability.

He said that the overall state anti-epidemic work should be correctly examined and the more intensified and developed anti-epidemic policy fixed and enforced to firmly guarantee the security of socialist construction and the state administration and provide the people with a reliable anti-epidemic environment.

He also underlined the need and urgency to strengthen the country’s foundations for public health and speed up the building of the anti-epidemic capacity. He called for making an in-depth analysis and review of the evils and shortcomings revealed in every sector during the maximum emergency anti-epidemic work from a critical and developmental viewpoint and adjusting and reinforcing in a more scientific and revolutionary way the state work system to cope with epidemic crisis.

He advanced important tasks and ways to be thoroughly carried out by the Cabinet, emergency anti-epidemic and public health sectors and the judicial, prosecutory and security organs with the aim of finally defusing the pandemic crisis and restoring the anti-epidemic stability.

He said that only when the anti-epidemic policy is enforced in a strict, scientific and advanced way, can it prove successful, stressing the need to steadily improve the anti-epidemic system and methods.

Our epidemic prevention work is based on the people’s voluntary unity in action, not on any institutional mechanism or material and technical means, he said, adding that a great victory in this work can be won through an all-people resistance.

He called on the Party organizations at all levels to conduct a vigorous ideological work for arousing all the people to the anti-epidemic war and guide the emergency anti-epidemic work in a responsible manner.

He said that the victory in the ongoing anti-epidemic war can be brought earlier only when all the Party cells proactively find the work to be done in the current anti-epidemic situation and make the Party members fulfill their duties and responsibilities with the same thought and act.

He called on officials to always lead Party members and all other broad sections of people in the van of the anti-epidemic front, learn in detail about and grasp the enforcement of the emergency anti-epidemic system on the spot and take timely steps.

He repeatedly stressed the need for the Party organizations at all levels to display the organizing ability and leadership that no one can replace in the on-going anti-epidemic campaign, and to make the process of overcoming the current crisis lead to the strengthening of Party organizations.

He also underlined the need to successfully tide over the anti-epidemic crisis and simultaneously push ahead with the building of the state anti-epidemic capacity.

He said that the state epidemic prevention capability to be built by us is the integrated whole of consolidated work system and order, technical personnel, material foundations and potentials capable of containing, controlling and defusing any possible health crisis initiatively in a stable way.

He reviewed and analyzed the invaluable experience and lessons gained and drawn in the course of ensuring the preventive security of the country for over two years by enforcing our-style anti-epidemic policy and of running the maximum emergency anti-epidemic system. He said that all the emergency anti-epidemic policies and guidelines, measures and policies pursued so far by the Party and the government serve as a great foundation for building up the state anti-epidemic capabilities.

He set forth the immediate goal, long-term goal and detailed ways for firmly consolidating the material and technical foundations for bolstering up the state anti-epidemic capabilities.

Noting that the current anti-epidemic war is an occasion for gaining priceless experience and stratagems for creditably defending the security of the country and the people in any future health crisis, he called for bringing about an unprecedented miracle in restoring the stability in the anti-epidemic work by further intensifying the Party work, economic organization and public healthcare to give fullest play to the organizing ability of our united society and the advantages of the socialist public health system.

He ardently called for firmly protecting the health and wellbeing of our dear people by organizing and launching the emergency anti-epidemic work scrupulously, flexibly and successfully with confidence and courage and powerfully accelerating the building of the country’s capabilities for coping with any pandemic disease and crisis.

Listening to his report, all the participants hardened the resolve to give full play to their utmost enthusiasm, fighting spirit, capabilities and wisdom in the forefront of the anti-epidemic campaign out of their high sense of responsibility and loyalty to the revolution and the spirit of unconditional and devoted service for the people.

True to the idea and spirit of the important conclusion and report of the General Secretary, the enlarged plenary meeting had sectional study and consultations for working out a scientific measure to thoroughly implement the fighting tasks for 2022 assigned by the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Party Central Committee.

Members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee and members of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee guided the study and consultative meetings.

Divided into nine sections, the study and consultative meetings deeply studied and discussed the tasks specified in the draft resolution before presenting many constructive proposals amid the sincere and mobilized stand and high enthusiasm of the participants.

Jo Yong Won, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and secretary for Organizational Affairs of the Party Central Committee, reported to the plenary meeting the proposals put together by the resolution-drafting group.

The plenary meeting finally examined the suggestions brought together and adopted with unanimous approval a resolution on the second agenda item “On adjusting some of the major Party and state policy-oriented tasks for the year 2022” and a resolution on the third agenda item “On taking a decisive measure to signally enhance the state anti-epidemic ability.”

It discussed the fourth agenda item “On amending and supplementing some contents of the Party rules and the guide to them.”

Members of the Party central leadership organ unanimously recognized that the relevant contents referred to the discussion are of important significance in further enhancing the Party’s fighting efficiency and leadership and consolidating its organizational and ideological foundation.

A relevant resolution was adopted at the meeting with unanimous approval.

The General Secretary of the WPK concluded the meeting.

Saying that the advanced and innovative plans, worked out at the enlarged plenary meeting, are an expression of self-confidence, great courage and firm will of the members of the Party central leadership body who bravely respond to the demands of the Party and the revolution without the slightest hesitation despite the unprecedented national crisis, he extended greetings of militant encouragement to them and, through them, to all the Party organizations and members.

The important tasks facing us at present are a supreme order issued by our people to the Party and the government, he said, expressing the expectations and belief that all the members of the Party central leadership body would stand in the van of the advancing ranks, deeply aware of their responsible duty before the Party, the revolution, the country and the people, to win brilliant victory in the two fronts of socialist construction and anti-epidemic war.