Report on the Fourth Plenary Meeting of Eighth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea

The Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) was held at the office building of the Party Central Committee between December 27 and 31, Juche 110 (2021) to review a great year of struggle and lay down new guideline on development amid the great interest and expectation of all the Party members and people across the country.

The plenary meeting was convened in the historic period when the entire Party, the whole country and all the people confidently move toward the next-stage struggle for the comprehensive development of socialist construction after adorning the first year of implementing the five-year plan with praiseworthy victory true to the grand strategic idea and practical programme set forth at the 8th Congress of the Party.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the WPK, was present at the plenary meeting.

As Kim Jong Un appeared at the meeting hall to mount the platform, all the participants broke into enthusiastic cheers for the respected General Secretary, the outstanding leader of our Party and people and the symbol of the mightiness of our state who set a new goal for victory of socialism with his extraordinary ideological and theoretical wisdom and laid a firm foundation for prosperity of the country through his energetic leadership activities all the year.

Attending the plenary meeting were members and alternate members of the WPK Central Committee.

And officials of the departments of the Party Central Committee, leading officials of ministries, national institutions, province-level guidance organs, cities, counties and major industrial establishments and officials of relevant major sectors were present as observers.

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

The Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee authorized Kim Jong Un to preside over the plenary meeting.

Kim Jong Un made an analysis and appraisal of the Party Central Committee on the Party and state work for 2021, the first year for implementing the decisions of the historic 8th Congress of the Party, referring to the main purpose of the convocation of the plenary meeting, its significance and importance.

Saying that in fulfilling the five-year plan for development and change set forth at the Party Congress, the work done year after year holds vital and important significance both in the light of the developmental stage of socialist construction and the realistic conditions and situation of our Party and state, the General Secretary noted that through the plenary meeting we all will face heavy yet responsible agony while becoming aware of the strategic importance of the next year's work which will just be as huge and important as this year's.

The General Secretary said that this year's struggle endowed us with more clear predictability about subjective and objective conditions and environment of the revolution at present and in the future, adding that therefore, we came to know what we can do and to have clear vision about our possibility and self-confidence.

He said that only when we correctly understand and judge the present external and internal situation and make a right stride along the correct orientation with accurate fighting policies, can we move to the next stage with a practical change for development.

Noting that at the point of reviewing the year's work with pride, we should first analyze with subtlety what could be lessons, he said that the main purpose of the convocation of the plenary meeting is to make some lessons learned by us an engine further supplementing and completing the revolutionary policies and raise our bigger potentiality for development. He added that herein lies the great practical significance of revolutionary development.

The Party Central Committee admitted that this year's successes and experiences should actively be promoted and amplified as they represent precious lessons and devoted efforts and as they require full display of unusual responsibility and strenuous efforts, and that the comprehensive development of socialist construction should be hastened with greater successes and victory by discharging heavy responsibility and generating maximum creativity in discussing the plan for the new year.

The plenary meeting dealt with the following agenda items:

1. On the review of the execution of major Party and state policies for 2021 and the work plan for 2022

2. On the implementation of the state budget for 2021 and the draft state budget for 2022

3. On the immediate tasks for the correct solution of the socialist rural question in our country

4. On modifying some articles of the Party rules

5. On the organizational and ideological life of the members of the Party central leadership organ in the second half of year 2021

6. An organizational matter

The plenary meeting unanimously approved the presented agenda items.

It listened to a report made by Kim Tok Hun, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and premier of the Cabinet of the DPRK, and discussions made in the sectional workshops over the first agenda item.

General Secretary Kim Jong Un made an important conclusion "On the Orientation of the Work of the Party and State in 2022" on the first agenda item.

He first analyzed and reviewed the work of the Party and the state in the first year for implementing the decisions made at the Party's Congress.

It is the general assessment of the Party Central Committee that 2021, in which all the Korean people waged tense and worthwhile struggle true to the new practical programme of socialist construction set forth at the Party Congress, is a year of great victory that opened up a prelude to the great change toward the comprehensive development of socialist construction despite severe trials.

It was the general goal and desire of the Party Central Committee in its work for this year to bring about practical changes and substantial achievements waited for and welcomed by the people by fulfilling the tasks set forth at the Second Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Party without fail.

When assigning and propelling the work for this year, the Party Central Committee paid special attention to ensuring the purposefulness of development, perseverance and scientific accuracy in working out the plan and establishing the trait of unconditionally, thoroughly and correctly implementing it, and awakened officials to exert themselves and took measures for solving pending problems in developing the economy and improving the people's living standard in time.

Achievements worthy of appraisal and evident stride forward hardening self-confidence were made in the agricultural field to which the Party gives top priority.

What is important is that we became confident in doing safe farming under any condition by adopting scientific methods of responsively reacting to disastrous climates and obstacles though they used to decide good or bad crop, and this is the valuable fruition the credit of which is to the rare patriotism and indomitable efforts of our agricultural workers.

Kim Jong Un courteously proposed to the plenary meeting sending thanks in the name of the Party Central Committee to the exemplary agricultural officials, workers, scientists and technologists who greatly contributed to doing farming well despite the unfavorable conditions this year.

The plenary meeting fully supported and approved his proposal.

The main success the Party Central Committee presented to the people this year is that it greatly demonstrated the development and potential power of our-style socialism making a leap forward by dynamically pushing ahead with huge construction projects planned by it.

The construction of 10 000 flats in the areas of Songsin and Songhwa nearing completion as another massive residential area is the first eye-opening event that showed in actuality the prospect for the perfect settlement of housing problem in the capital city in the period of five-year plan.

The completion of the third-stage Samjiyon city project produced an ideal and valid experience for confidently pushing ahead with the long-term grand construction to transform local areas across the country.

The construction of 5 000 dwelling houses in the area of Komdok made successful headway, the rehabilitation from flood damage was satisfactorily conducted in South Hamgyong Province and North Hamgyong Province and new architectural shapes were introduced and new ideas were created in lots of projects including the construction of modern terraced residential district. This indicated that our architecture has leapt one step higher and the era of great prosperity in construction keeps flourishing.

The electric power and coal industrial sectors responsible for supplying power to the national economy conducted an effective production campaign to powerfully haul the overall economy. The building-materials, machine, mining, forestry and land, marine and rail transport fields supported the nationwide construction and production surge. All these meant an improvement of one step forward in implementing the plan for this year.

Plan discipline was established in the economic field and leading economic officials have shown obvious improvement in their work style. This becomes a powerful guarantee for further advancing the economy and the state affairs in the future.

The mentality and awareness of all the people desirous of socialist life and development has grown stronger than before, fully displaying the might of collectivism in practice.

The Party Central Committee assessed that the desire to bring about fresh innovation, bold creation and steady progress was vividly manifested in the work for this year and a turn was effected in establishing the Party climate, like strengthening the organizational discipline of the Party and carrying out the Party's decisions.

The economic guidance organs including the Cabinet have become active in the efforts to strengthen the unified guidance and control of the state over economic work and improve the economic management methods. The work for perfecting the socialist legal system was further intensified and legal order was strengthened to bring substantial progress in guaranteeing the economic development and the stabilization of people's living.

The national defence industrial sector developed one ultra-modern weapon system after another under its correct plan, thus demonstrating the advancement and modernity of our military force. This is one of the very important achievements made this year.

This year when the Party congress was held, many young people volunteered to work in difficult and labor-consuming fields and did good deeds, which moved the people. It is a remarkable political success that the spirit of young people became very high.

Praising this year's successes, the Party Central Committee estimated that ways of stabilizing the economy and subsisting by dint of self-reliance defying extremely severe environment have been positively found out and applied and that it is progress made in the economic development and this process precisely means the dynamic advance of the Korean-style socialism towards the comprehensive development of the state.

The General Secretary said that great praiseworthy achievements were made in this year's work as all the people turned out as one with the zeal of loyalty to resolutely defend the authority of the Party congress and dedicated their patriotic sweat to the implementation of the tasks for the first year of the five-year plan, overcoming all the difficulties. He, on behalf of the Party Central Committee, highly praised all the Party members, working people and the service personnel for making indomitable and strenuous efforts to glorify 2021 as a year of proud victory to be specially recorded in the history of socialist construction, and sent warm greetings to them.

The conclusion referred in detail to the shortcomings and important lessons revealed in this year's work and the ways for settling them.

Indicating the main orientation of the work of the Party and the state for 2022, the General Secretary clarified the principled issues and the struggle policy for a fresh development of socialist construction.

The main task facing our Party and people next year is to provide a sure guarantee for the implementation of the five-year plan and bring about a remarkable change in the state development and the people's standard of living so as to record a noteworthy page in the history of the country.

The economic sector, the main front of socialist construction, should concentrate all its efforts on putting the country's economy on the growth orbit and providing the stabilized and improved living to the people by reenergizing the production and pushing ahead with the adjustment and improvement.

The conclusion expounded in detail the major policy tasks that should be carried out by the key industrial sectors next year.

The metallurgical industrial sector should technologically refine the Korean-style iron-producing method, produce iron and steel as scheduled by supplying fuel and raw materials in time and, at the same time, push ahead with the expansion of capacity and modernization.

The chemical industrial sector should give full play to the newly-created fertilizer production capacity and boost the production of materials for the light industry and the pharmaceutical industry by reenergizing major chemical factories, while accelerating the project to establish a new structure of the chemical industry.

The power industrial sector should strive to raise the electric-power production to the high level while satisfactorily meeting the immediate demand for the electric power. And it should reduce the loss of power in transmission, step up the building of new power stations and increase the capacity of generating electricity by diverse natural energy.

The coal industrial sector should give precedence to the prospecting and continue waging a high-speed tunneling campaign to find more coalfields. And it should increase the coal production by introducing the advanced mining methods and machines and pay attention to helping the bituminous coal mines increase the production.

The railway transport sector should enhance safety of the railways, accelerate its modernization and establish the state's unified system of controlling the overall transport so as to develop the country's transport work by stages.

The machine-building industrial sector should responsibly provide the equipment needed for implementing the adjustment and improvement plans of several economic sectors and units and boost the production of vehicles, electric machines and construction machines and improve their quality.

The conclusion advanced an important task for making radical progress in solving the food, clothing and housing problem for the people.

The entire Party and the whole country should concentrate efforts on the farming and give manpower and material support to the rural communities. And the agricultural sector should increase the grain production by doing all the farm works in a sci-tech way and positively use farming machines now that the area to grow wheat and barley has been expanded.

In the economic work, capital construction should be prioritized and new construction revolution for fundamentally changing the living environments of the people should be made so as to continue to usher in the heyday of the capital city construction including the building of 10 000 flats planned for 2022 and open an era when the local areas will change.

The light industrial sector should set it as an important task to reenergize the production of consumer goods and push ahead with it. And it should put the foodstuff processing technology on a higher scientific basis.

Saying that the supply of school uniforms and things to the students across the country at the state's expense is a consistent policy of the Party and the state, the General Secretary set forth a task for supplying all the students with quality uniforms and bags of new forms without exception and took an important measure of the Party Central Committee for implementing it.

He stressed the need for the fishing industrial sector to conduct a work for catching more fish, do fish breeding and culture well and increase marine resources in an effective way to better the people's diet.

Mentioned in the conclusion were tasks for the mining industry, forestry, IT industry and other sectors to make positive contributions to the national economic development by practically advancing their work.

The land administration and city management sectors should push ahead with afforestation, river improvement and anti-land-sliding projects the year round, aiming at thoroughly protecting lives and properties of the people and the land of the country. They should push forward under plan the work to ensure security and modernity of roads, protect and improve the ecological environment and create green landscape in streets and villages.

The conclusion referred in detail to the tasks for powerfully propelling the work to adjust and reinforce the material and technical foundations of the national economy.

And it underlined the issues of strengthening the function and role of the Cabinet as an economic organizer, intensifying the work to improve the planning method and putting the economic activities on a regular and standardized footing.

It set forth important tasks for promoting the overall development of socialist construction by making innovation in the work of the field of culture including science, education and public health.

At present, a major task facing the field of science is to clearly specify the scientific and technical measure for developing the overall affairs of the country including the economy in a balanced and simultaneous way.

Scientific and research units should select as their main tasks the development and completion of technologies having an urgent significance in enhancing independence of the national economy and improving the standard of people's living, and all the sectors and units should give precedence to the training of their own scientific and technological forces before production and construction.

The educational sector should set it as the main objective of educational revolution in the new century to train all the school children as genuine revolutionary talents, competent and creative talents and reserves of socialism by developing our education into the most advanced and ideal one to which we can entrust our future.

For this, it is necessary to further strengthen the prodigy educational system and train a large number of good scientific and technological talents who can be core and traction engine in several fields including the economy and the national defence, strengthen the ranks of teachers in local areas and farm villages in a qualitative and quantitative way and push forward the work to modernize the educational conditions and environment so as to put the overall educational level of the country on a higher level.

The main direction of the public health for next year should be set as providing a sure guarantee for further raising the quality of the medical service for the people, and all efforts should be concentrated on further strengthening the material and technical foundations of the public health sector.

The literature and art field should bring about fundamental innovation in the ideological viewpoint, creation attitude and creation method of the creators and artistes, thoroughly maintain the principle of ensuring the political identity and characteristics of the era in the literary and art activities and make an effort to train the new generation reserves of literary persons and artistes to make them play the main role in the creation activities.

The conclusion referred to the principled issues to be maintained in media and sports fields and underlined the need to aspire after bold pursuit and dynamic leap to progress toward the advanced level.

Noting that the noble and highly-civilized life style and moral traits based on collectivism serve as foundation of our-style socialism and powerful vitamins for its advance and development, the General Secretary said that the fine virtues and noble traits peculiar to our people being fully displayed day by day should be made social and national customs.

The conclusion stressed once again that the emergency epidemic prevention work should be made a top priority in the state work and it is the most important work to be powerfully conducted with no allowance given to slight slackness, pores and drawback.

The work should be positively pushed forward for reinforcing and completing the means and forces needed for switching our epidemic prevention into advanced and people-oriented one by surely putting the country's foundation of epidemic prevention on a scientific foundation and firmly preparing the material and technological foundation of the epidemic prevention sector.

The conclusion referred to the tasks for further positively conducting the struggle against anti-socialist and non-socialist practices in the entire Party and the whole country and society, thoroughly ensuring the social order and people's safety by raising the role of law enforcement organs, establishing the revolutionary atmosphere of law observance and further strengthening the socialist law system.

The General Secretary set forth militant tasks facing the national defence sector.

The military environment of the Korean peninsula and the trend of the international situation getting instable day after day demand that bolstering the state defence capability be further powerfully propelled without a moment's delay.

The People's Army should steadily intensify the work of modeling the whole army on the revolutionary idea of the Party Central Committee and developing it into the revolutionary army of the Party that remains faithful and obedient to the guidance of the Party Central Committee, and direct all efforts to maintaining the training-first principle and putting weapons and equipment on a regular readiness and establishing the firm military discipline.

The munitions industrial field should dynamically push ahead with the production of the powerful equipment corresponding with the modern warfare while steadily expanding the achievements made true to the decisions of the 8th Party Congress, powerfully fuel the qualitative change of the national defence capacity and attain the goal of putting the defence industry on a Juche, modern and scientific basis in a planned way.

It is necessary to take a decisive measure for bolstering the capability of the militia defence force as required by the modern warfare, and increase the military qualifications and commanding capability of the commanding officers of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards and the practical ability of the militia force by effecting drastic turn in the training.

The conclusion set forth principled issues and a series of tactical orientation, all of which should be maintained by the sectors of the north-south relations and external affairs to cope with the rapidly changing international political situation and the circumstances in the surroundings.

It also advanced the tasks for strengthening the Party, the general staff of the revolution, and steadily enhancing its leading role in order to successfully carry out the important tasks for a fresh victory of socialist construction.

The important issue arising at present in improving the leadership and fighting efficiency of the Party in every way is to steadily improve the Party work and make the entire Party a studying one so as to turn it into a living organism sharing the idea, intention and action with the Party Central Committee and decisively raise the level and ability of the Party officials.

The whole Party should wage a major ideological battle against formalism in Party work, thoroughly establish the revolutionary discipline within the Party and make the ranks of cadres pure and steadfast.

The Party organizations should direct their efforts to thoroughly implementing the economic policy of the Party and the plans of the national economy, and the leading officials of the Party should set forth the plans to give their units and local areas a complete facelift and purposefully, consciously and steadily push forward with the implementation of the plans.

Saying that the struggle in 2022 is a great life-and-death, urgent struggle to be vigorously waged successfully for sure for the overall development of socialist construction, our great people and beloved posterity, the General Secretary affirmed that as there are the great people who are possessed of firm faith and strong power to overcome all difficulties by rallying around the Party in one mind and precious experiences with which great successes were made in the spirit of self-reliance despite such harsh situation as this year, our Party and people will achieve a proud victory once again.

Finishing the concluding speech, he ardently called upon the entire Party and all the people to vigorously accelerate the overall development of the socialist construction by putting spurs to the spirit of courageous advance, and thus make the next year a year of great revolutionary event to be significantly recorded in the history of the country and another watershed in the great struggle advancing toward the bright future.

With thunderous cheers of "Hurrah!" and loud applauses all the participants expressed absolute support and approval for Kim Jong Un's important concluding speech which will serve as a guiding fighting policy leading Korean-style socialist construction to the next stage of victory and a practical weapon of advance and innovation.

Kim Jong Un's concluding speech is a precious practical programme and an invincible militant banner encouraging the struggle for 2022 for bringing earlier the overall development of the Korean-style socialism and the happiness of the people as it reviewed with pride the year 2021 in which the Party Congress was held as a year of proud victory to be specially recorded in the history of prosperity of the country and indicated a new guideline for bringing about prosperity of the country.

In discussing the second agenda item, the plenary meeting made a final examination of the implementation of the state budget for 2021 and the draft state budget for 2022 which were examined and suggested by a state budget assessment group. And it approved to present it to the 6th Session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) of the DPRK.

The meeting discussed the third agenda item "On the Immediate Tasks for the Correct Solution of the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country".

Kim Jong Un made a historic report "Let us open up a new great era of our-style socialist rural development".

Reviewing the policy of our Party that attached importance to the rural question from the first period of its founding and the historic path for its materialization, the General Secretary clarified the importance and significance of the proper solution to the socialist rural question at present.

To make drastic change of the rural communities today when it presents itself as a mature requirement to wage the struggle for the overall development of socialism becomes a very important revolutionary task in turning around the rigorous situation in favour of increasing the driving force of our own and achieving prosperity and development of the country and welfare of the people.

It is for this reason that the 8th Party Congress set forth the strategic policy to arm the agricultural workers with the Party's policies and turn the rural communities into affluent and cultured socialist ones possessed of modern technology and civilization.

The General Secretary clarified the goal of socialist rural construction and the major task at present, calling for putting the country's agriculture on a definite upward stage and opening up a new great era of effecting drastic development of our-style socialist countryside by pushing forward the rural development under the uplifted slogan of "For New Victory of Socialist Rural Construction!"

Saying that our Party's goal for the socialist rural construction is to model all the rural communities across the country on the Juche idea and make them materially affluent, he noted that targets to be attained in our-style rural development are to enhance level of ideological awareness of agricultural workers, make a rapid development of agricultural workforce and bring about fundamental change in the living environment of the countryside.

The report said that the project for attaining the goal of socialist rural construction is a gigantic and serious revolution and that it is necessary to set stages and goals on a scientific basis and wage purposeful struggle under year-on-year plan to successfully solve the rural problem that assume protracted and multilateral nature. It then set forth mid-term and long-term rural development strategies to be maintained by our Party and the state in the future.

The major task of rural development strategy at present is to transform all the agricultural workers into revolutionary agricultural workers befitting the era of the Workers' Party, completely solve the food problem of the country and dynamically wage the struggle for drastically changing the living environment of rural inhabitants so as to definitely put the countryside on an orbit of sustained development.

Saying that it is the most crucial task in the socialist rural construction and a key factor for its victory to make the agricultural workers main players and masters of the rural revolution, the General Secretary stressed that it is of paramount importance to put priority efforts into transforming the thought of agricultural workers and enhancing their political awareness so as to firmly prepare all of them to be rural revolutionaries upholding the Party's idea of socialist rural construction with loyalty.

He set it as the basic task of rural development strategy to increase the agricultural production and completely solve the food problem of the country, and specified the goals of grain output and production of animal products, fruit, vegetables, industrial crops and sericulture to be attained phase by phase in the coming 10 years.

The report suggested the dynamic struggle of sprucing up farm villages across the country as a task to which special emphasis should be put in rural development strategy.

To build all the farm villages in the country so that they would preserve the characteristics of socialism and the peculiar features of relevant regions is a crucial strategic plan which the Party gives a top priority to and which it is determined to realize under whatever conditions, in order to provide rural inhabitants with wonderful living environment with nothing to envy in the world and to achieve the overall development of the country.

A guarantee for the successful implementation of this plan is powerful state support, activation of a powerful state guidance system and the enhancement of the roles of cities and counties directly responsible for the local construction.

The General Secretary underscored the need to powerfully speed up rural revolution with confidence and optimism, turn all the farms in the country into socialist paradise wonderful enough to be proud of in the world and realize centuries-old desire and ideal of the people as soon as possible, clarifying detailed tasks and ways for doing so.

Powerfully expediting the three revolutions–ideological, technological and cultural–in the countryside is the most important task arising in settling the socialist rural question.

It is proven by the history of socialist rural construction in our country and also the present situation that only when the three revolutions are effectively waged in the countryside, will it be possible to bring about a fundamental change in the aspects of political and ideological awareness, technological knowledge and cultural life of the agricultural workers.

The report set forth the ideological revolution as a priority task in making the three revolutions in the countryside.

The purpose of the ideological revolution in farms is to remove old thought remaining in the heads of agricultural workers, turn them into communists who have been revolutionized and armed with the Juche idea, and consolidate our revolutionary force politically and ideologically and thus powerfully propel socialist construction.

Important here is to educate the agricultural workers to let them work faithfully with high class awareness while firmly arming them with the revolutionary idea and policy of our Party and with the fighting spirit displayed by hero farmers and patriotic farmers in the different annals of the revolution, helping them grasp the greatness and gratitude for the Party, state and the social system and making collectivism dominate their thinking and life.

The report called for conducting dynamic technological revolution in the farms to make the agricultural workers intelligent ones.

When they are prepared politically, ideologically and culturally and also possessed of advanced science and technology, they can fulfill their roles as masters of the socialist farms and accelerate rural development in the new era, the report said, and continued:

To this end, it is necessary to conduct brisk agricultural sci-tech study and advanced farming technology dissemination to broaden the knowledge of agricultural workers and enhance their technical ability as required by the drive of making all the people well versed in science and technology and developing ours into a talented nation. What is also necessary is to send lots of university graduates to farms, further increase technological ability of farms in reliance on their pivotal role and thoroughly get rid of such incidence as distancing oneself from science and technology and resorting to old experience in farms.

It is also important to establish a revolutionary, healthy and civilized way of life in the farms while raising the cultural awareness level of agricultural workers in order to bring about drastic improvement in accomplishing the cultural revolution in farms.

The agricultural workers should conduct brisk mass-based cultural and art activities and popular sports activities and establish noble and sound moral traits while keeping their native places and villages clean and tidy to make laughter, optimism and feelings of harmony fill the farms.

The nationwide efforts should be directed to raising the level of education and medical service in farms, and the culture of the capital, the culture of working class and the model culture of the times should be steadily expanded to local areas and farms so as to propel the cultural revolution in the countryside.

In the historic report, the General Secretary set it forth as an important task that is urgent in settling the rural problem at present to increase agricultural production of the country in a sustained way.

The report called for consistently maintaining the scientific farming-first principle in successfully implementing this urgent task the solution to which is most waited for by the people.

It is our Party's view on strategic development to convert the agriculture of the country into the advanced one and bring about stable and sustained growth of agricultural production with the science and technology as the major driving force of the agricultural development.

To this end, it is imperative to powerfully spur the revolution in seed selection, establish scientific farming system and method to cope with disastrous abnormal climate and ensure rapidity, scientific accuracy and correctness in agricultural meteorological forecast.

What our Party gives priority in developing the agricultural production at present is to change the grain production structure of the country and powerfully propel rice and wheat farming.

The General Secretary in the report expressed once again the determination and will of our Party to realize the cherished desire of our people in the near future without fail and clarified the methodological issues in orientating the country's agricultural production to shifting the dietary culture of our people to the one with rice and flour food as staple food.

In the agricultural field, the work of expanding the area under cultivation necessary for meeting the nation's demand for rice and wheat should be pushed forward in a planned way, advanced cultivation method should be introduced, mechanical means should be actively introduced to farming work, dehydration facilities should be set up and wheat processing capacity should be expanded by a large margin.

As an immediate task, farms should work out detailed operations for accumulating wheat farming experience and a nationwide system for providing high-yielding seeds and necessary farming materials should be established in an effective way.

The report stressed the need to kindle once again the hot wind for bean and potato farming on a nationwide scale.

Tasks were also given to dynamically wage the struggle for improving low-yielding land and turning it into fertile land without letup and to increase per-hectare yield in most of farms whether they are in flat areas, middle areas or mountainous areas.

The report set forth it as an important task for making the people's life plentiful to develop stock-breeding and increase fruit, vegetable and industrial crop production.

It is necessary to renovate the existing stock-breeding bases, turn the counties with favorable conditions for the development of stock-breeding into stock-breeding counties so as to considerably increase the production of meat, eggs and milk, and widely spread high-yielding fruit species and establish advanced cultivation technology to supply our children and people with fresh fruits and various processed fruits all the year round.

It is important to recover vegetable field irrigation system, build modern large-scale vegetable greenhouse farms in different parts of the country and invigorate mushroom production bases to make tables of people loaded with food. It is also necessary to put efforts into the cultivation of industrial crops to satisfactorily solve the issue of raw materials of light industry including raw materials of sweetener and oil.

The report importantly referred to the task of strengthening the scientific and technological force of the agricultural field.

Clarified in detail were the issue for agricultural science and technology institutions and universities in agricultural field to fulfill their roles in putting the agricultural production on a scientific, IT and intensive basis to meet the trend of the worldwide agricultural development, the issue of studying farming technology and methods favorable for relieving farmers of their hard labor and for realizing mechanization as well as increasing productivity, the issue of putting all the agricultural scientific research bases on an ultra-modern basis and training a large number of competent agricultural technical talents and the issue of timely disseminating advanced agricultural science and technology and farming methods to farms, work-teams and farmers.

The report stressed the importance and principled requirement of improving guidance and management in achieving the sustained development of agricultural production in socialist society and advanced realistic ways for strengthening the unified, planned and scientific and technological guidance over the overall agricultural production of the country and displaying the advantages of our-style agricultural guidance system centered on the county co-op farm management committees.

The report also stressed the need to raise the level and ability of agricultural guidance officials and those officials of primary organizations in farms and to remove exaggeration deep-seated in the agricultural field.

The General Secretary in his historic report clarified the revolutionary policies and measures for increasing the state investment in agriculture and radically consolidating the material and technological foundation of the rural economy.

Underscoring the need to increase the state investment in agricultural field purposefully, unaffected by the given environment and conditions, the General Secretary called on the Cabinet and other state economic institutions and relevant units to systematically increase the share of investment in agricultural field and set up a strict system and order by which equipment, materials and fund are unconditionally provided as planned.

The report analyzed in detail the state investment in realizing the irrigation, mechanization, chemicalization and electrification of the rural economy and referred to details of basic ways for settlement.

It is imperative to adjust and reinforce the irrigation system of the country in general and further complete it so as to ensure safe farming, despite whatever drought and flood, to sufficiently supply to the countryside nitrogen fertilizer, phosphatic fertilizer and potassic fertilizer and various other fertilizers and efficient chemicals necessary for the growth of crops, send more power equipment and electrical machines to improve the conditions of production and cultural life in the farms and to continuously expand areas under cultivation with nationwide efforts concentrated on the campaign to bring more land under cultivation and on tideland reclamation.

Saying that it is the plan and determination of our Party to create new picture of socialist farm in which modern farm machines made by us cover the farms of the whole country and agricultural workers enjoy farming with the help of machines, the General Secretary noted that to accelerate this process, this issue was deeply studied based on overall analysis of the situation in the existing farm machine factories.

He said that the plan of the Party Central Committee is to concentrate investment in major farm machine factories and farm machine study field while developing the Kumsong Tractor Factory into a general factory capable of producing various efficient farm machines as well as high horsepower tractors so as to completely update the farm machine industry of the country. He took special crucial measure for its realization.

He said that an emphasis should be put on South Hwanghae Province, the biggest agricultural province in the country, underlining the need to put the Party and state efforts on the province in the period of five-year plan so that it would take the lead in agricultural production in the country.

He also set forth the tasks to make it regular and obligatory to mobilize labor and means in a prompt way during cardinal farming period such as rice transplantation, weeding and harvest in a nationwide scale, and for relevant fields including light industrial field and commercial field to regularly supply lots of various daily necessities so as to help the living of agricultural workers and boost their production enthusiasm.

Making a detailed analysis of general financial situation of cooperative farms now under difficult condition, he declared a favored measure to completely release cooperative farms from the arrears of state loans as part of important measures to let the rural communities stand on their own and consolidate their economic foundations.

The General Secretary advanced it as a task of utmost importance in socialist rural construction to drastically transform the appearance and environment of farms.

It is the policy of rural construction of our Party to turn all rural villages in the country into rich and cultured socialist ideal villages at the level similar to those in Samjiyon City in the near future.

To realize this plan and policy are people-oriented work wished for and welcomed by all the people and political work for effecting new socialist rural civilization in our era, the new world where the local areas change, and for effecting change in local areas, the work for the social progress and prosperity and the historic work for achieving the overall development of our Republic.

Calling for changing the living conditions of all the rural villages in the country by actively promoting and expanding advantageous experiences accumulated in the construction of Samjiyon City, and stepping up the construction of civilized society in that course, the General Secretary specified the task for preferentially supplying cement necessary for rural construction to all cities and counties, the task for strengthening designing and construction force and procuring necessary construction equipment, the task of pushing forward rural construction with preference given to dwelling construction, the task of setting up powerful guidance system for guiding the farm construction as Party and state work and the task of ensuring state provision of major materials and finishing building materials and the task of creating building material production bases in local areas.

The General Secretary specially emphasized the need to thoroughly maintain the Party's idea on architectural beauty in local construction, ensuring originality, modernity and cultural refinement and political nature in farm construction.

Those crucial measures taken for the rapid development of farms across the country at a time when economic work is being done under difficult conditions and when there present big tasks for socialist construction become an expression of the revolutionary farm construction policy of our Party and the state, and they mean great favor and consideration shown for millions of agricultural workers.

The historic report also set it forth as an important task to strengthen the Party guidance over the socialist rural construction.

The rural ri-Party organizations and provincial, city and county Party committees should correctly carry out the planning and designing for promoting the rural development, local development in accordance with the Party's policy of rural construction, the Party's policy of local construction and should dynamically organize and mobilize officials, Party members and other working people to its implementation.

In particular, the ri-Party committees should become the Party's major combat units, groups of high spirit and fighting efficiency to give correct Party guidance to and lead the implementation of the policy of socialist rural construction, and the secretaries of the ri-Party committees should elevate their level and role.

The report called for establishing throughout the Party the system of regularly reviewing the implementation of the policy of socialist rural construction and taking measures for it so as to make the programme for rural construction bring about great changes year after year.

The General Secretary expressed conviction that sure victory is in store for the historic work to certainly put the country's agriculture on the orbit of steady development and bring about great changes of rural communities as long as there are the rightful guidance of the Party, the most correct programme for rural construction and the loyalty and patriotic enthusiasm of Party members and other working people.

The report made by Kim Jong Un, which unfolded a bright prospect and blueprint for the settlement of socialist rural question, comes to be a great fighting programme heralding in a new era of socialist rural development in our country and an expression of the WPK's strong will and determination to build a proud socialist paradise with our own might, wisdom and efforts.

The new programme for socialist rural construction is a further development of the great Theses on the Socialist Rural Question which comes to be a monumental document of important epoch-making significance in accelerating the comprehensive prosperity of socialism by kindling the fierce flames of rural revolution and materializing the century-old desire of our people at an early date.

The plenary meeting had a three day-long sectional study and discussion for making detailed plans to carry out the fighting tasks for the new year and carrying out the new programme for rural construction on the basis of the idea and spirit of the important conclusion and the historic report made by Kim Jong Un.

The meeting made a final examination of suggestions brought together by the resolution-drafting team and adopted the resolutions "On thoroughly implementing the tasks for the year 2022 of the five-year plan set forth by the 8th Party Congress" and "On thoroughly implementing the fighting programme for our own-style socialist rural construction" with unanimous approval.

Through the full pre-study of the 4th agenda item by the members of the Party central guidance organ, the meeting acknowledged that the amendments to the Party rules are of practical significance in putting the Party building and its activities on a regular and standardized footing, and unanimously approved the decision on amending relevant clauses of the Party rules.

The plenary meeting discussed the fifth agenda item.

The meeting heard and reviewed data on the organizational and ideological life of the members of the Party central guidance organ in the latter half of the year 2021.

The meeting discussed the organizational matters as its sixth agenda item.

It recalled and by-elected a member and an alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee as well as members and alternate members of the Party Central Committee.

The 4th plenary meeting of the 8th WPK Central Committee that lasted five days amid revolutionary enthusiasm finished its work with a solemn pledge of invariable loyalty to the revolutionary idea and cause of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il.

The plenary meeting will be significantly recorded in the history of the Juche revolution as a historic one which declared the start of an all-people grand march to glorify the hopeful new year 2022 as a great turning-point of the developing revolution under the invincible guidance of the great Party and advanced strategic policies that will dynamically propel the overall development of our own-style socialist construction.