Kim Jong-un Launches Campaign to Attain Goals For 2020

State news agency KCNA said on Tuesday that Kim had called for the launch of the campaign in a politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party on Monday, as the coronavirus pandemic and recent floods have put pressure on the country’s economy.

“We have performed historical feats with our costly efforts, boldly overcoming unprecedentedly grave trials and difficulties this year, but we should not rest on our laurels,” the KCNA report read.

“We still face the challenges that cannot be overlooked and there are many goals we have to attain within this year,” it said.

The ruling party is due to lay out a new five-year plan at its January congress. A party meeting in August had concluded that “goals for improving the national economy have been seriously delayed.”

In 2019, Kim pledged to make a “frontal breakthrough” in the country’s campaign to build a self-reliant economy in the face of United States sanctions.

North Korea has been under US sanctions for years over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which the US is opposed to.

US President Donald Trump formerly engaged in diplomacy with Pyongyang, and although he met with Kim three times, he refused to relieve any of the harsh sanctions on the North over its military programs, and that in turn killed chances for further diplomacy.

Lower-level talks between the United States and North Korea effectively halted last year.