Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- A report was made on the work of the Seventh Central Committee of the Party from January 5 to 7, Juche 110 (2021) at the Eighth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), an important political event in the development of our Party and revolution.

Kim Jong Un, chairman of the WPK, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and supreme commander of the armed forces of the DPRK, made the report on the work of the Central Committee of the Party.

Supreme Leader of our Party, state and armed forces Kim Jong Un in his nine-hour-long report comprehensively and deeply analyzed and reviewed the work of the Seventh Central Committee of the Party, laid down a fresh struggle line and strategic and tactical policies for making a radical advance in socialist construction and set forth important tasks for advancing the cause of national reunification and external relations and developing Party work.

The report on the work of the Central Committee of the Party is a great practical programme as it admits the subjective and objective factors checking our advance and serious mistakes under the prevailing internal and external situations, and indicates clear struggle tasks and ways for innovating overall work of the Party and the state and switching the socialist cause to the next stage of victory.

The gist of the report which clearly indicates the path of the Korean revolution at the present stage is that we must boldly overcome the existing threats and challenges, make a new leap forward in the construction of our own-style socialism and make a clear advance by strengthening our own power, our own driving force, in every way.

The report which comprehensively deals with our Party's outstanding ideology and theory serves as a militant banner to be adhered to in the course of the struggle of a new stage for the prosperity and development of our state and happiness of the people, and a revolutionary document which firmly links today and tomorrow with the historic roots of the cause of Juche.

It is the greatest honor for our Party and people and great encouragement for them to receive the highly important guidelines for making an overall development of our own-style socialism on the road of indomitably and vigorously carrying on the arduous struggle with a firm belief in the justness of their cause and its victory.

The report on the work of the 7th Central Committee of the WPK consists of the following chapters:

1. Achievements Made in the Period under Review

2. For an Epoch-making Advance in Socialist Construction

3. For Independent Reunification of the Country and Development of External Relations

4. For Development of Party Work

Kim Jong Un in the preface of his report outlined the guidance provided by the Central Committee of the Party during the period under review for fulfilling its heavy yet honorable mission given at the Seventh Congress of the WPK.

The Central Committee of the Party took timely measures for implementing the decisions made at the Seventh Congress of the Party by regularly holding major Party meetings including the plenary meetings, and positively aroused the entire Party, the whole state and all the people to their implementation and thus made great achievements.

The report noted that serious mistakes were revealed in the work of several fields including economic work under the grave internal and external situations, but those were deviations made in the stage of new development and in the course of the advance of the socialist cause and were problems which can surely be solved by our wisdom and efforts.

1. Achievements Made in the Period under Review

Kim Jong Un in the first chapter of his report reviewed with pride the proud achievements made by our Party and people during the period under review.

The WPK organized and waged indomitable offensive struggle for turning every obstacle into great victory for the past five years since the Seventh Congress of the Party, and the victory won in this course can be characterized by that it opened up an era of fresh development, an era of our state-first principle.

As mentioned in the report, the era of our state-first principle is a new era of self-respect and prosperity, which was born as a result of the WPK making all possible efforts for the people and determinedly building up its own force, boldly facing all kinds of challenges of history, a result of the do-or-die struggle for exalting the dignity and position of the state.

The report firstly reviewed the successes achieved in embodying the politics based on the people-first principle in the period under review.

The biggest success achieved in the past five years of struggle for implementing the decisions made at the Seventh Party Congress is that the politico-ideological strength, the first motive force of our revolution, was radically augmented.

During the period under review the Party Central Committee achieved remarkable successes in consolidating the single-minded unity of the Party and the people as firm as a rock and building up the driving force of the socialist cause and enhancing its role by putting forward the politics based on the people-first principle as a fundamental issue and a main political mode decisive of the survival or ruin of the Party and the victory or failure of socialism and by vigorously and consistently unfolding it.

"Everything for the people and everything by relying on them!"-this was the core of leadership idea to which the Party Central Committee held fast without an inch of deflection and slightest concession during the period under review.

While intensively endeavoring to thoroughly make the people-first principle run through the Party and state activities, the Party Central Committee uninterruptedly carried on the struggle for eliminating all kinds of anti-people factors laying obstacles in realizing it.

The report analyzed the scrupulous political offensive waged by the Party Central Committee to secure the people-first principle as a firm political climate of the state and as a Party climate and national climate.

What was of special significance in the work of the Party Central Committee for consolidating the politico-ideological position was that it carried out more intensively the education in the revolutionary traditions as required by the period of succeeding to and developing the revolutionary cause of Juche.

It is one of the major successes achieved during the period under review that the Party Central Committee established an all-Party and all-society climate of equipping themselves with the great revolutionary traditions created in Mt Paektu and overcoming difficulties and opening up the way of advance in the indomitable fighting spirit based on the traditions, the spirit displayed by the anti-Japanese guerrillas, and thereby ensured that the noble fighting spirit and disposition of the Korean revolutionaries were firmly inherited.

The Party Central Committee staged timely and dynamic political activities for informing the Party members and other people of the demands of the situation, Party's intention and revolutionary tasks and arousing them to a vigorous struggle. 

The power of the politics based on the people-first principle of finding the motive force of the development of the revolution in the hearts of the people and arousing them to action was expressed in a concentrated way in enlisting to the maximum the spiritual strength and creativity of the people to deal with the difficulties and the change of the situation.

The report referred to the fact that the devoted service for the people thoroughly ran through all the work of the Party and the state.

When establishing and putting into practice its line and policies, the Party consistently maintained the principle of carrying out all production and construction while respecting the urgent requirements of people in their living and their desire and putting their convenience in the first place and with the feedback and assessment from them as a yardstick. It also exerted special efforts to the work of making all the Party organizations and national institutions highly display the spirit of devoting themselves to the people.

It became an important part of politics based on the people-first principle that the Party Central Committee made the People's Army discharge its mission and duty as the driving force of national defence and as a genuine army of the people which firmly protects the country and the people from not only military but sudden nonmilitary threats.

The Party Central Committee has achieved precious successes in uniting our society to be a large family by making sure that all the Party organizations sincerely help the people with ordeals and hardships in their life and lead them to a worthwhile life.

Thanks to the politics of the WPK based on the people-first principle full of trust, devotion, reward and obligation, the political and ideological position of our revolution was firmly consolidated, an unquenchable strength that can break through any obstacles and challenges was built up, and the advantages and vitality of Korean-style socialism centred on the masses were fully displayed.

The report stressed that it is a valuable philosophy proved once again in the period under review that it is possible to tackle any unfavorable subjective and objective factors and easily carry out the huge tasks for the socialist construction despite any grave situation, manifold trials and latent shortcomings if the politics based on the people-first principle is thoroughly pursued.

The Supreme Leader reviewed the achievements made by our Party and people in the struggle for boosting our own power during the period under review.

The struggle of our Party and people for implementing the decisions made at the Seventh Congress of the Party was a positive offensive for paving a new avenue for socialist construction by breaking through manifold difficulties, holding fast to self-reliance as the lifeline of self-respect and self-development and a powerful engine for development.

The spirit of self-reliance and the policies for its embodiment stressed at the Seventh Congress of the Party were detailed at Party plenary meetings and put into practice. In the course of this, the strategy of our Party for self-reliance was developed into a strategy for offensive for turning the mean sanctions by the hostile forces into a golden opportunity for strengthening our self-development capability and internal motive force and into a political line to be constantly adhered to in socialist construction.

Amidst the all-people struggle for stepping up socialist construction by enhancing the self-development capability, self-reliance developed into a national trait of Juche Korea and the one and only fighting spirit of the Korean revolution.

Although economic construction failed to hit the expected strategic goals, a precious foundation for making sustained economic development by our own efforts was provided, the report said, adding: The greatest of such successes is that the backbone of the self-supporting national economy, the socialist economy, which is the material basis of the existence and lifeline of our own style of socialism, was maintained and its arteries were preserved.

The Party Central Committee built up new potentials for readjusting and developing the overall economy by taking revolutionary measures for strengthening the unified guidance and strategic management of the state over economic work and making sure that the socialist principles were thoroughly observed in the economic field.

In the period under review the Party gave importance to construction as important political work for building up the overall national power and leading the people to socialist civilization, and remarkably changed the appearance of the country by vigorously accelerating the construction work.

The agricultural field waged an intensive drive for scientific farming and high yield despite persistent and severe drought, flooding and all kinds of shortages, and thus brought about an unprecedented increase in grain production.

A breakthrough was made in putting the metallurgical industry and chemical industry, the twin pillars supporting the independent economy, on a Juche and self-supporting basis and a series of achievements were made in the technical preparations and laying of foundations for shoring up the sectors of electric power, coal and machine-building industries and rail transport and for developing telematics.

Major factories and enterprises in the field of light industry were upgraded to secure potentials for radically boosting the quality and output of consumer goods and a foundation for increasing production was systematically laid in the fishery sector.

Amid the nationwide and all-people campaign for increasing forest resources of the country, over a million hectares of forests were newly planted and the forces for and means of afforestation and water-conservancy, land and environment protection and urban management were provided.

In the field of science and technology, key national projects were carried out and other valuable sci-tech successes and inventions were made, and in the sector of education, vigorous efforts were made to innovate teaching content and method and improve educational conditions and environment.

The material and technical foundations of the public health sector were further strengthened and a well-regulated working system and foundation were built in the hygienic and anti-epidemic sector through the preemptive and powerful emergency anti-epidemic campaign for checking the inroads of the worldwide pandemic.

Positive efforts were made to put sports on a scientific basis and arouse the zeal for sports and the work for establishing a national system for disaster prevention and crisis management was pushed, thereby making it possible to flexibly cope with all sorts of disasters including natural calamities.

The successes made through the past five years of struggle for constantly building up our own strength are the fruits of our strenuous exertion and development capacity, which are scores of times greater than any economic construction successes in normal time as they were achieved by our own efforts in the face of protracted wicked sanctions and blockade and awful disasters. And thanks to the enormous power of self-development which was accumulated despite difficulties, the great advance of our Party and people toward a powerful socialist nation will be accelerated more vigorously in greater scope and depth.

The Supreme Leader in the report referred to the successes made in the struggle for consolidating the country’s nuclear war deterrent and self-reliant defence capabilities.

To accomplish the great cause of building the national nuclear force was a strategic and predominant goal that should have primarily been attained by our Party and people without fail in the course of building our ideal powerful socialist state.

Korea was divided by the US, the world's first user of nukes and war chieftain, and the DPRK has been in direct confrontation with its aggressor forces for decades, and the peculiarities of the Korean revolution and the geopolitical features of our state required pressing ahead uninterruptedly with the already-started building of nuclear force for the welfare of the people, the destiny of the revolution and the existence and independent development of the state.

The Party Central Committee headed by the Supreme Leader planned a forced breakthrough operation for accomplishing the great cause of building the nuclear force, inspired the entire Party and all the people to the implementation of the line of simultaneously promoting the two fronts and organized and launched an intensive ideological campaign for preparing the national defence scientists and nuclear scientists as genuine revolutionaries, patriots and death-defying corps.

The energetic and outstanding guidance and activities conducted by the Party Central Committee to safeguard the destiny of the country and the nation wrote a history of miracle-the birth of a strategic weapon of the WPK style.

The report detailed the historic course of masterminding a great revolutionary turn for possessing the completely new nuclear capabilities aimed at attaining the goal of modernization of the nuclear force.

Under the direct guidance of the Party Central Committee, intermediate-range and intercontinental ballistic rockets of Hwasongpho series and submarine-launched and ground-based ballistic rockets of Pukkuksong series were manufactured in our own style to meet their unique operational missions. This gave a clearer description of the status of our state as a nuclear weapons state and enabled it to bolster its powerful and reliable strategic deterrent for coping with any threat by providing a perfect nuclear shield.

In the period under review the already accumulated nuclear technology developed to such a high degree as to miniaturize, lighten and standardize nuclear weapons and to make them tactical ones and to complete the development of a super-large hydrogen bomb. By succeeding in the test-fire of ICBM Hwasongpho-15 on November 29, 2017, the Party Central Committee declared with pride to the world the accomplishment of the historic cause of building the national nuclear force and the cause of building a rocket power.

The great cause of building the national nuclear force, which was impossible to achieve even in 20 to 30 years in terms of existing formula, was accomplished four years after the line of simultaneously promoting economic construction and nuclear buildup was set forth and one year after the Seventh Congress of the Party. This is a miracle unprecedented in history and the exploit of greatest significance in the history of the Korean nation the Seventh Central Committee performed for the Party and revolution, the country and people and posterity.

The Party Central Committee achieved new great victories by vigorously leading the struggle for upgrading the nuclear force even after the great historic November event in 2017.

Recalling that the Party Central Committee decided to develop a global strike rocket with more powerful warheads and an improved warhead control system and carried out this historic task by relying on the patriotism and loyalty of national defence scientists, the report affirmed that the new-type gigantic rocket on an 11-axis self-propelled launcher displayed during the military parade in celebration of the 75th founding anniversary of the Party fully demonstrated the ultra-modernity and great striking capability of our nuclear force.

The accomplishment of the great cause of building the national nuclear force and its continued development constitute a victory of the organizational and leadership abilities of the Party Central Committee headed by Kim Jong Un and a great victory of the national defence scientists and all other Koreans who waged a death-defying struggle with an indomitable faith in independence and valiant spirit.

The report reviewed the fact that new cutting-edge weapon systems were developed in the sector of national defence science one after another to cope with the enemy's desperate arms buildup, thus making our state's superiority in military technology an irreversible one and putting its war deterrent and capability of fighting a war on the highest level.

The national defence science sector developed the super-large MLRS, a super-power attack weapon the world’s weaponry field had never known, and proceeded to develop ultra-modern tactical nuclear weapons including new-type tactical rockets and intermediate-range cruise missiles whose conventional warheads are the most powerful in the world.

This enabled us to gain a reliable edge in military technology.

National defence scientists and workers in the munitions industry properly set the orientation of developing main tank of our style following the world's development trends and have begun to enter a new track of development while upgrading production processes. They also achieved such successes as developing world-class anti-air rocket complex, self-propelled gun howitzer and anti-armour weapons.

The report also noted that in the period under review the sector of national defence scientific research was conducting research into perfecting the guidance technology for multi-warhead rocket at the final stage, finished research into developing warheads of different combat missions including the hypersonic gliding flight warheads for new-type ballistic rockets and was making preparations for their test manufacture.

The report made public with pride that the standard of the goal in the modernization of medium-sized submarine was set correctly and it was remodelled experimentally to open up a bright prospect for remarkably enhancing the existing subsurface operational capabilities of our navy, that the design of new nuclear-powered submarine was researched and was in the stage of final examination and the designing of various electronic weapons, unmanned striking equipment, means of reconnaissance and detection and military reconnaissance satellite were completed, and that other achievements were made in national defence research of gigantic significance in developing the People's Army into a powerful one with the strongest military muscle in the world.

The report evaluated that the bold leap forward brought about in the national defence science and munitions industry made sure that the country ranked high in the world in terms of defence capabilities and, at the same time, it was of great significance in realizing the strategic plan of the Party Central Committee for developing the overall Korean revolution.

The report said that a great advance was made in the work of turning the People's Army into elite forces in the period under review.

Under the leadership of the Party, the People's Army performed miraculous feats on two fronts-national defence and socialist construction-to faithfully accomplish its revolutionary duty. It also reliably defended the land, the air and the seas of the country and put the provocative threats by the enemies under definite control by means of impregnable guard and full combat posture in the last five years fraught with the most acute and grave trials, thus ensuring peaceful environment for socialist construction.

In the period under review the Party Central Committee successfully accomplished the great cause of building the country’s nuclear forces and brought about a great change in strengthening the state defence capabilities, thereby upraising the country to the position of a world nuclear power and military power in both name and reality and putting an end once and for all to the era in which big powers attempted to make bargain with the interests of our state and nation.

The most significant and proud victory achieved by the 7th Central Committee headed by the Supreme Leader in implementing the decisions of the Party Congress is that it made sure that our people and posterity could create prosperity and happiness to the full in a dignified strong country free from the holocaust of war forever.

In the report the Supreme Leader reviewed that the DPRK’s external position was radically raised in the period under review.

After winning the great victory in carrying out the line of simultaneously pushing forward economic construction and upbuilding of nuclear forces, the Party Central Committee conducted energetic external activities to place the state’s dignity and prestige on a high level.

In the period under review, the external environment for the DPRK was harshest in its history since its founding, due to the desperate offensive by the US and its followers characterized by frantic manoeuvres to pressurize and blockade the country.

In this severest situation, the Party Central Committee resolutely rejected any attempt to hurt the supreme interests and dignity of the country and never made even the slightest concession in its revolutionary principle while adhering more firmly to the principle of independence, which brought the world to the realization that the sovereignty of the DPRK can never be infringed upon and improved relations with it is absolutely impossible without the respect for its sovereignty.

By making a bold switchover in its lines and pursuing offensive strategy, it created a trend towards peace and atmosphere of dialogue, accepted by the international community, and organized and led adroit external activities to elevate the prestige of the DPRK in the international arena.

By prioritizing the long-standing and special DPRK-China relations, our Party developed the friendly relations with China as required by the new century and opened a new chapter in the DPRK-China relations of friendship with socialism as its core, the report stressed.

The Party Central Committee strengthened strategic communication, promoted mutual understanding and deepened comradely trust between the two Parties through five rounds of the DPRK-China summit talks and thus provided a firm guarantee for fresh development of the DPRK-China relations as demanded by the times that required continuity in the fraternal ties and unity between the Parties and peoples of the two countries which are inseparably bound up with each other in the struggle for their common cause.

Attaching importance to the fresh development of the traditional DPRK-Russia relations, the Party Central Committee also conducted external activities for the development of friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries, in the course of which it laid a cornerstone for the expansion of friendly relations with Russia.

Through the DPRK-Cuba Pyongyang summit and the DPRK-Vietnam Hanoi summit, the Party Central Committee developed the bilateral relations, forged and verified in the common struggle for accomplishing the cause of socialism, into special ones between comrades, into strategic ones, thus radically strengthening its unity and solidarity with other socialist countries.

The proactive external activities conducted by the Party Central Committee gave a strong impetus to the socialist cause in the international arena, and demonstrated the prestige and authority of our Party and state, which is steering the new political trend of safeguarding independence, justice and peace.

The Party Central Committee brought about a dramatic turn in the balance of power between the DPRK and the US during the period under review, thereby wonderfully demonstrating the dignity and prestige of our state.

At the one-on-one talks of the top leaders of the DPRK and the US, the first of its kind in the hostile relations between two countries, the Party Central Committee, with a strong principle of independence, made sure that the joint declaration that assured the establishment of new DPRK-US relations was adopted.

The several rounds of DPRK-US summit talks were an event of the greatest significance in the history of world politics, which demonstrated to the world the strategic position of the DPRK, which defends its independent interests and peace and justice against the superpower.

During the period under review, the Party Central Committee considerably raised the strategic position and prestige of the DPRK by relying on the indomitable and steadfast independent spirit of our people and the great might stockpiled by the country. This symbolizes the dignity and authority of the WPK and the position of our great people.

The report stressed that the rapid rise of the external position of the DPRK, whose territory and population are not so large and which is encircled by the imperialist reactionaries, is a precious fruition of the protracted and hard-fought struggle waged by our Party and people, and it is a great historic miracle born of the great unity of the people who believed and upheld the line and policies of the Party as an absolute truth and rallied more closely around the Party despite the worsening difficulties. 

2. For Epochal Progress in Socialist Construction

It is an important task set forth by the Eighth Congress of the WPK to clearly decide on the correct orientation and mission of the struggle aimed at steadily achieving fresh victories in socialist construction and take substantial measures to this end.

In the second chapter of the report the Supreme Leader analysed and reviewed the work of the economic and cultural construction, defence building, state and social administration, and the working people’s organizations during the period under review, mainly focusing on the mistakes and lessons, and advanced important tasks for making new progress and development in the future.

He, first of all, made a strict and detailed analysis of the implementation of the five-year strategy for the national economic development and a new long-term plan.

The report severely criticized that the objectives for the growth of the national economy fell a long way short of implementation and consequently the people’s living standards could not be improved remarkably, owing to the failure in the revolutionary improvement of the economic work under the protracted severe external and internal situations and in the face of unexpected challenges. It also dealt with depression in different sectors and its causes.

Analysing the subjective and objective factors which affected the implementation of the five-year strategy for the national economic development, it pointed out the aftermath of the most barbarous sanctions and blockade by the US and other hostile forces as the first objective factor.

Besides, severe natural disasters that hit the country every year and the world health crisis that broke out last year and became protracted were severe obstacles to the economic work, it analysed.

The report said that due to such obstacles, state investment and supplies intended to bolster the major economic sectors in the five-year strategy for the national economic development could not be carried out properly.

It made an analysis and appraisal of the Party Central Committee on the cause of non-fulfillment of the five-year strategy for the national economic development during the period under review, seriously pointing out that it could not but draw a conclusion that if one ascribes its failure to objective conditions, he can do nothing and the action and role of the driving force will be unnecessary, and it is impossible to accelerate the revolutionary struggle and construction work unless the unfavourable external factors are removed.

The Party Central Committee analysed the current situation, in which the 5-year strategy for national economic development had not been properly set on the basis of scientific calculation and grounds, science and technology failed to actually play the role of propelling the economic work of the country and the work of readjusting and reinforcing the irrational economic work system and discipline was not properly done.

The report referred to the conclusive lesson that the economy of the country can never be boosted without breaking with the wrong ideological viewpoint, irresponsible working attitude, incompetence and obsolete working manner that have been prevalent so far.

Stressing the need to take steps for decisively switching the overall work of the Party and the state to be oriented to and encouraging fresh innovation, bold creation and steady advance and resolutely getting rid of the outdated work system, unreasonable and inefficient way of work and obstacles disturbing our advance, the report noted that only by doing so, is it possible to turn our struggle for socialist construction, including the one for attaining the future long-term goals of the national economy, into a great revolutionary undertaking aimed at bringing substantial well-being to the people.

The report clarified the strategy for the struggle in the economic field in the coming five years.

It stressed that our Party’s economic strategy at the present stage is the one for readjustment and reinforcement aimed at putting our economy on a normal track to run smoothly without being affected by any external influence by restoring and readjusting the economic work and the organic relations among sectors and pushing ahead with the work for cementing the self-supporting foundations.

The general orientation of the five-year plan for the national economic development is to lay solid foundations for reenergizing the overall national economy and improving the people’s standard of living by concentrating efforts on the main links in the whole chain of economic development.

The major tasks of the new five-year plan aim at focussing investment with the metal industry and chemical industry as key links so as to normalize production in all sectors of the national economy, consolidate the material and technical foundations of the agricultural field and supply enough raw and other materials to light industry for increased production of consumer goods.

The report brought for discussion the new five-year plan which had it as its goal to advance toward sustained economic growth and vivid improvement of the people’s standard of living on the basis of the present situation and potentiality of the national economy.

The new five-year plan mainly presupposes that the Cabinet, as the economic headquarters of the country, properly enforces the Cabinet-responsibility system, Cabinet-centred system, for economic work, vigorously accelerates the work of strengthening the essential lifeline and integrity of the country’s economy, definitely improves its economic management, actively promotes the normalization of production, renovation and local provision of raw and other materials by dint of science and technology and orientates the external economic activities toward reinforcing the foundations and potentiality of the self-supporting economy. 

And the new plan reflects the demands for perfecting the self-supporting structure of the national economy, lowering the proportion of dependence on imports and stabilizing the people’s living by taking the actual possibilities into consideration.

The main seed and theme of the plan are, as always, self-reliance and self-sufficiency.

From the requirements of our developing revolution and from the urgent requirements of socialist construction, self-reliance during the period of the new long-term plan should develop into nationwide, planned and scientific self-reliance.

Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un in his report referred in detail to the present conditions in the major economic sectors, and the issues related with their readjustment and development.

The report presented the situation of the key industrial fields which form the lifeline of the national economy and which must be propped up on a priority basis for the overall economic development and the improvement of people’s standard of living, and ways of their readjustment and development.

The report stressed that the metal industry should technologically perfect our own system of iron making, expand its capacity and radically increase iron and steel production. 

It was noted that in order to attain the goal of iron and steel production mentioned in the new five-year plan, scientific and technological problems must be solved to expand production capacity by renovating the existing production lines with advanced technology and building new energy-saving iron blast furnaces in major iron works and steel plants, to invigorate the production of iron ore and to use brown coal in the northern areas for the production of pig iron.

The report also referred to the direction of the development of the core industry of the country, the chemical industry, which can be likened to the lifeline for the construction of the self-supporting economy and the improvement of people’s standard of living.

The central task of the chemical industry in the new five-year plan period is to give precedence to building up our own technical forces, step up the improvement of its structure, and drastically increase the production of chemical goods necessary for economic construction and the improvement of the people’s standard of living. The chemical industry should make sure that the whole process of the struggle for founding a Juche-based chemical industry becomes the process of holding a firm grasp on the know-how of the up-to-date technology and push forward the work of transforming the structure of the country’s chemical industry into that of a Juche-based industry relying on our own raw materials.

The report set it as a precondition for stepping up economic construction and improving the people’s standard of living to increase the generation of electricity, key power of the self-supporting economy.

The major task facing the electric power industry during the new five-year plan period is to readjust and reinforce its production foundations as a whole and expand them on a long-term basis while waging an increased production drive for meeting the immediate demand for electricity so as to reliably guarantee the stable development of the national economy and the material and cultured living of the people.

The report mentioned the plans for concentrating the efforts of the state on the construction of tidal power stations under long-term and medium-term strategies and launching in real earnest into the founding of the nuclear power industry to cope with the long-range demands and the subjective and objective changes in the future.

It put an emphasis on important issues for developing the coal industry, an outpost for the development of the self-supporting economy.

Referred to were the issues of boldly unfolding and powerfully propelling the work of intensively supplying equipment, materials, labour and funds to the coal industry, securing more coalfaces by giving precedence to prospecting and tunnelling in the coal industry, putting efforts into the development of the soft coal industry, pushing forward the work of improving the working and living conditions of coal miners as a priority task for increased coal production and taking measures for the effective use of coal. 

The report defined the machine industry as an important sector leading and hauling the overall economic sectors, and set forth the immediate orientation of its development after examining the present situation facing the machine industry of the country and its causes.

The basic task facing the machine industry during the new five-year plan period is to make it an industry with solid foundations and switch to a development- and creation-oriented industry.

The machine industry should positively develop and produce modern and high-performance machine products including machine tools, vehicles, building machines, electric machines, mining machines and hydraulic machines.

The report stressed the need to attach importance to the mining industry and shore it up for the sake of the normal development of the national economy.

The basic task of the mining industry is to reinforce and expand its production foundations and meet the needs of the national economy for nonferrous metal and non-metallic minerals in the main during the new five-year plan period.

To this end, it is necessary to realistically promote the work of building up the geological prospecting forces and effectively developing and using the underground natural resources of the country in a unified way, and to expand the production capacity of the mines, smelteries and factories in the mining industry.

The report underlined the need for the forestry sector to strengthen its own material and technological foundations and satisfactorily meet the need for timber of the national economy while keeping the balance of timber production and afforestation.

The orientation of development of the sectors of the key industries mentioned in the report indicates the scientific and innovative way to powerfully leading the overall economic construction by further strengthening the potential and might of the self-supporting economy, and it also provided a firm policy guarantee for promoting the sustained development of the economy whatever the conditions and environments.

The report referred to the present situation in transport and the tasks for bringing about obvious improvement in it.

The basic target of rail transport during the new five-year plan period is to positively promote the modernization of railways, improve transport in a revolutionary way and thus satisfactorily meet the need for rail transport.

The field of railway transport should push ahead in a planned way and staunchly with the work of ensuring the safety of railways, making them heavy-duty, increasing the sections of standardized railways and, furthermore, renovating all the railways.

At the same time, the projects for updating the Pyongyang Metro and renovating its stations should be pushed forward, and the level of its management and operation decisively raised.

The land and maritime transport was presented with the tasks of continuing to build large cargo vessels suited to the world trend of development of ship-building technology, building an integrated management system of automotive transport and putting transport command on an IT basis so as to ease the strain on transport.

It is necessary to produce a larger number of means of public transport, including new-type subway trains, trolley buses, tramcars and buses, to promote people’s conveniences.

The report evaluated the remarkable development and achievements made in the construction field during the period under review, pointed out a series of deviations and raised new tasks and targets.

The basic tasks facing the construction field during the new five-year plan period is to massively carry out the capital construction including housing construction so as to provide the people with a higher civilized living conditions and radically change the appearances of the country.

The construction field should powerfully push forward the two fronts simultaneously−industrial construction for strengthening the economic foundations of the country and construction for meeting the material and cultural needs of the people.

By concentrating efforts on the construction of 50 000 flats in Pyongyang, it should set the annual plans for building 10 000 flats every year, starting from this year, scrupulously organize the construction operation and guidance for implementing the plans and thus basically settle the issue of dwelling houses for the Pyongyang citizens.

25 000 houses should be built in the Komdok area, a leading nonferrous mineral producer where a large contingent of workers live, and thus build it into a mining city with no comparison in the world.

It is imperative to build strong professional construction units and actively develop and produce equipment, gears and tools necessary for construction at the building machinery factories.

The report raised the tasks for further developing the building materials industry in keeping with the demand of the practical situation in which construction is progressing at an unprecedented speed.

The basic tasks facing the building materials industry during the new five-year plan period is to attain the goal of producing 8 million tons of cement and ensure self-sufficiency of the finishing materials.

It is necessary to renovate the existing cement factories and, at the same time, build new large-capacity, up-to-date cement factories in the areas with favorable conditions for materials and electricity supply and transport, and thus further expand the cement production capacity of the country.

It is imperative to work hard to meet the demand for finishing materials determining the appearance of buildings through home production, build up the bases for producing outdoor and other paints with locally available raw materials, raise their quality and develop the technology for producing roofing materials.

It is necessary to steadily push ahead with the preparations for producing building materials under a well-thought-out plan to construct more zero-carbon and zero-energy buildings in keeping with the world trend of architectural development, and provinces should produce various building materials in large quantities by constructing various profitable building material production bases that rely on their locally available raw materials.

The report set forth the tasks for the communications field to make uninterrupted leaps forward and innovations in positive response to the demand of the times.

The field should step up technical updating of its infrastructure and turn mobile communications into a next-generation one as early as possible by developing the relevant technology.

It is needed to readjust the wire broadcasting and cable TV networks, put the relevant technology on a higher level and provide full conditions for the people in all parts of the country, ranging from cities to remote mountain villages, to enjoy a better cultural and emotional life.

The report raised it as a very urgent issue at present to develop the state-run commerce and preserve the socialist nature of public catering and welfare service, and set forth the tasks for restoring our commerce, true to its name, to public service activities for supporting the people’s life and promoting their material well-being.

The important tasks to be carried out by our commerce without fail at present is to restore the state’s leading role and control in the overall commerce service activities and preserve the nature of socialist commerce of serving the people.

Commercial service units should put their service activities on a people-oriented, cultural, modern and diversified basis with a correct management strategy, and thus create a new socialist service culture of our own style.

The report presented land management and ecological environment protection as important affairs for protecting the lives and health of the people and improving the landscape of the country and a work of strategic weight for the future of the country.

The tasks facing the land management sector in the new five-year plan period are to make a decisive progress in land development and ecological environment protection, thus steadily pushing ahead with the work of transforming the whole country into a socialist fairyland, a beautiful land as befitting the era of the Workers’ Party.

The report pointed out the matters of grasping through surveys the overall situation of the ecological environment including forests, dealing with their seasonal and annual changes correctly and promptly in accordance with the results of the relevant analysis, enacting right laws and regulations for the protection of land and environment and implementing them strictly, preventing natural disasters through an intensified campaign of afforestation and water conservation, continuously making great efforts for road construction and management, and pushing ahead with eastern and western coastal improvement projects in a big way through national mobilization to protect the lives and safety of the people, conserve land and spruce up the country’s coastal areas as befits a maritime nation.

The report stressed the importance of city management which is directly related with the life of the people from A to Z, and set forth relevant tasks.

The field of city management should take stringent measures for repairing houses, expand the capacity for producing drinking water while improving its quality, and build more sewage treatment plants of a new type to prevent environmental pollution.

It is necessary to decisively enhance the level of landscaping designing, spruce up parks and recreation grounds and plant good species of trees, flowers and cover plants in good arrangement so as to give a facelift to cities.

The report, based on a detailed analysis of the external economic work and the subjective and objective conditions and environment of the country, raised directional issues including those of formulating a scientific strategy for the external economic field and implementing it purposefully.

It raised boosting tourism as an important undertaking for providing our people with a more civilized life and showing the world the ever-improving appearances of our country.

It is necessary to spruce up tourist attractions, improve methods of giving publicity to them and arrange diversified tourist courses and guidance.

Also important is to turn the Mt Kumgang area into a modern tourist resort of our own style.

The report advanced the tasks of removing all the facilities including the Haegumgang Hotel at a wharf of the Port of Kosong and constructing buildings of our own typical architectural style, which will go in harmony with the beautiful scenery of Mt Kumgang and suit the emotional and aesthetic feelings of our people.

According to the master plan for the development of the Mt Kumgang tourist area, the project to build the Kosong port coastal tourist area, the Pirobong mountaineering tourist area, the Haegumgang coastal park area and a sports and culture area-which will all be of original forms-should be carried out on an yearly basis and in a phased way during the new five-year plan period.

The report set it as an important task to improve economic management.

Our national economy is a self-supporting and planned one that serves the people.

The independent, planned and people-oriented characters of the national economy should be strengthened. To this end, it is necessary to raise the functions of the state that organizes economic affairs, and ensure unified management of products on the principle of making sure that the fruition of the economic activities is channelled into promoting the well-being of the people.

The fundamental requirement and direction in improving the management of the socialist economy are to put the masses of the people, the masters of society, at the centre of all considerations and give priority to their demands and interests.

The report also stressed the need to hold fast to reducing cost and improving quality as the key to improved economic management. 

Basing themselves on the fundamental requirement and direction of improving the management of the socialist economy, the state economic guidance organs should readjust and reinforce the economy substantially.

The report underscored the need to tighten discipline in ensuring unified guidance of the state in the economic work, strengthen the national system of unified statistics, launch a proper project for boosting the mainstay of the national economy, and improve the conditions of industrial establishments to carry on their management activities.

Productive forces should be redistributed in a reasonable way so that economic efficiency may increase in the whole realm of the national economy, weak links in the chain of each economic sector identified, and the sectors that are essential for balanced development of the economy reinforced.

It is imperative to improve planning and make proper use of the economic leverages including financial, monetary and price administration so as to ensure rational management of the economy.

The scientific analysis and clear policies the report put forth with regard to the prevailing situation of the major economic sectors and their readjustment and development serve as a powerful weapon of practical importance in consolidating the material and technical foundations of the self-supporting economy and propelling economic construction in a planned and stable way irrespective of the change in the external environment.

The Supreme Leader declared in the report the unshakable determination of the Party to make a breakthrough in solving the people’s food, clothing and housing problems at any cost and effect tangible changes and innovations, which will benefit the people in reality, in the new five-year plan period.

The report set forth proactive measures to increase agricultural production so as to decisively settle the problem of food supply for the people.

The central target in the agricultural field in the five-year plan is to unfailingly attain the goal of grain production the Party has already set and to consolidate the material and technical foundations for sustained development of agriculture.

In order to increase agricultural production, it is important to put efforts into seed production, scientific farming, increased output in low-yielding fields, cultivation of new land and tideland reclamation, while developing farming, animal husbandry and fruit growing and pushing irrigation and mechanization of agriculture as an important strategic priority.

The report emphasized the policies of taking scientific and technical measures and laying material and technical foundations for securing agricultural increase even in unfavorable climatic and weather conditions, boosting the zeal of agricultural workers for production and strengthening state assistance to the rural economy.

The main targets set forth for the agricultural sector are matters of paramount importance for the state that must be attained whatever the cost in order to ensure self-sufficiency in food supply and thus step up socialist construction.

The report referred to the importance of light industry which holds an absolute share in providing the people with an affluent and civilized life, and the direction of its development.

The light industrial field should step up its renovation while regarding it as the lifeline and main direction of development to tap locally available resources for raw and other materials and recycle used materials; it should also steadily build itself up by reinforcing the weak sectors and processes and setting up missing ones.

Also stressed were the issues of raising the quality of products on the principle of giving priority to quality over quantity, and directing efforts into developing new kinds of products.

The report defined the fishing industry as one of the three fields directly related to the people’s diet.

The fishing industry should modernize fishing vessels and implements, put fishing on a scientific basis and build up fishery stations and ship repair yards.

It is necessary to systematically increase seafood production by substantially conserving and propagating the nation’s aquatic resources in a planned way and launching a mass drive for aquaculture.

Raised in the report were important policy issues for self-reliant and multilateral development of cities and counties.

It is the consistent strategic policy our Party maintains in socialist construction to consolidate its revolutionary position and develop the rural economy and other sectors of the local economy and improve the people's living standards with cities and counties as bases.

Cities and counties constitute terminal units for the execution of our Party policies, regional bases guiding the rural economy and other sectors of the local economy, and strong pillars supporting the overall development of the country.

The general goal defined by the report to build up cities and counties is to turn every city and county into a strategic base of a highly civilized and prosperous socialist state and a developed region retaining their inherent characteristics.

Cities and counties should set their development strategies and long-term objectives in conformity with their regional characteristics in a realistic way and persistently carry them out purposefully in a planned way and on an annual basis.

It is necessary to channel efforts into development of the socialist rural communities, holding aloft the slogan "Forward towards fresh victory!" so as too achieve cultural progress peculiar to rural areas, a new development of our own style.

The long-term objective for rural construction is to eliminate disparities between the working class and the peasantry, the gaps between industry and agriculture and differences between the urban and rural areas by pushing ahead with the three revolutions in the rural areas and thoroughly implementing the thesis on the socialist rural question; and the immediate task is to give precedence to the work of transforming agricultural workers on a revolutionary and working class pattern, boost state support to the rural areas and build up the rural communities in a balanced way so that they have regional characteristics of their own.

The report stressed the need for the Party and the state to pay close attention to the effort for building up the positions of rural hardcore elements.

It raised it as a consistent political requirement to develop the local economy by using the raw and other materials available in relevant areas in accordance with the regional characteristics.

It is also necessary to push ahead with the work of changing the appearances of city and county seats and put great efforts to improving city management, afforestation, water conservation and environmental protection.

Mentioned in the report was a task for city and county Party committees and people's committees to become a powerful engine propelling the development of their regions, master of the local economy and administrator responsible for the livelihood of the people in their regions.

The Supreme Leader solemnly clarified the revolutionary standpoint that the national defence capability, the cornerstone for the existence of the state and a reliable guarantee for defending the dignity and security of the country and people and peace, should be strengthened continuously.

The report analyzed the fact that although our Party and the government of our Republic made well-meant efforts and displayed the greatest patience to prevent the aggravation of the regional tension out of sheer desire to ensure peace and security of the Korean peninsula and the rest of the world, the hostile nature of the American policy towards the DPRK has gone to extreme, instead of becoming weakened.

Nothing is more foolish and dangerous than to idle our time away without steadily building up our strength while knowing well enough that the enemy’s high-tech weapons aimed at our state are increasing in volume.

The reality shows that only when we bolster up our national defence capability without a moment’s halt will we be able to contain the military threat from the US and achieve peace and prosperity of the Korean peninsula.

Stressing that the strong defence capability of the state never precludes diplomacy but serves as a powerful means to propel it along the right course and guarantee its success, the report gave the analytical conclusion that the reality in the prevailing situation proves once again that there can never be satisfaction in strengthening the military strength.

As long as imperialism remains on the earth and the danger of war of aggression by the hostile forces against our state remains, the historic mission of our revolutionary armed forces can never be changed and our national defence capability must be steadily bolstered along the track of new development.

The report set forth important tasks for the Korean People's Army to develop more firmly into a revolutionary army modelled on the Workers’ Party of Korea, a sophisticated high-tech army and a reliable defender of our state and people by maintaining it as the general task for the army building to model itself on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism. 

The report mentioned the core plan and strategic tasks of crucial importance in rapidly developing and strengthening the national defence industry.

It is necessary to develop the nuclear technology to a higher level and make nuclear weapons smaller and lighter for more tactical uses. This will make it possible to develop tactical nuclear weapons to be used as various means according to the purposes of operational duty and targets of strike in modern warfare, and continuously push ahead with the production of super-sized nuclear warheads. In this way we will be able to thoroughly contain, control and handle on our own initiative various military threats on the Korean peninsula, which are inevitably accompanied the nuclear threat. 

The report also set a goal of attaining an advanced capability for making a preemptive and retaliatory nuclear strike by further raising the rate of precision good enough to strike and annihilate any strategic targets within a range of 15 000 kilometres with pinpoint accuracy.

And the tasks were brought up to develop and introduce hypersonic gliding flight warheads in a short period, push ahead with the development of solid-fuel engine-propelled inter-continental underwater and ground ballistic rockets as scheduled, and possess a nuclear-powered submarine and an underwater-launch nuclear strategic weapon which will be of great importance in raising the long-range nuclear striking capability.

The report also referred to the need to secure the ability of reconnaissance and information gathering based on operation of a military reconnaissance satellite in the near future, and conduct in real earnest the most important research to develop reconnaissance drones and other means of reconnaissance capable of precisely reconnoitring up to 500 km deep into the front.

It defined it as the main task facing the sector of defence science at present to rapidly advance the Korean People’s Army from the conventional type into an elite hi-tech one by developing the defence science and technology and inventing more advanced weapons and combat equipment.

Making the military equipment intelligent, precise, unmanned, high-performance and light should be set as the priority target of the munitions industry, and research and development be oriented to this end.

The report mentioned the profound tasks for completing the preparations for all-people resistance, the matter of crucial importance that should never be neglected in firmly consolidating the national defence capability.

The important tasks for strengthening the national defence capability put forward by the report are expressive of the iron will and determination to continuously strengthen the country's military capabilities until the vicious cycle of the brink of war and detente, tension and dialogue is removed once and for all and such words as threat and blackmail by the hostile forces disappear on this land, considering the situation in which the international balance of power is crumbling owing to the reckless arms buildup of the US and other hostile forces.

The Supreme Leader set forth in the report tasks for confidently opening an avenue for achieving prosperity by dint of self-reliance by promoting the development of science and technology. 

Defining development of science and technology as a crucial task and an optimum policy in socialist construction, the report comprehensively analyzed the deviations revealed in the course of implementing the line of attaching importance to science and technology, and indicated the goals for the development of science and technology to be attained by each sector during the new five-year plan period, as well as the relevant ways and means for their achievement.

It is necessary to proactively solve urgent scientific and technical problems arising in implementing the new five-year plan for the national economic development and promote the development of core and advanced cutting-edge technology.

It is essential to establish a proper Party, state, administrative guidance and management system for