A meeting of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea was held at the office building of the Party Central Committee on Tuesday.

Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, directed the meeting.

Attending the meeting were members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee.

Present there as observers were Ri Il Hwan, secretary of the WPK Central Committee, and Kim Jae Ryong and Ju Chang Il, department directors of the WPK Central Committee.

The meeting made an analysis of the current state of the health crisis, studied and discussed the enforcement of the immediate anti-epidemic policy and the orientation for executing the Party and state policies under the top emergency anti-epidemic situation.

It also examined a report on the execution of the Party and state policies for the first half of this year as of May 17 before discussing the documents and agenda item on an organizational matter to be submitted to the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Party Central Committee.

The Presidium of the Political Bureau made a comprehensive analysis of merits and demerits in the activities of the members of the leadership body of the Party Central Committee and made a study of relevant measures.

It discussed the issue of helping the Party organizations at all levels, leading officials and officials of the state organs enhance their role with firm will, confidence, boundless devotion and responsibility and achieve remarkable progress in implementing the policies of the Party Central Committee by holding fast to its unified leadership as their lifeline and thus play a leading role in building the socialist economy and national defence and overcoming the severe health crisis.

It analyzed the reality in which the leading officials of the Party and state organs fail to properly handle affairs in the emergency anti-epidemic situation due to lack of experience, and studied and discussed the issues of enhancing their leading role, creativity and activity.

It discussed measures to get a firmer grasp of and closer control over the work, activities and role of the Party organizations at all levels, leading officials and officials of the state organs so that they would not maintain their position with incompetence and self-protection and to exercise strong working discipline in the whole Party and state organs.

It discussed the issue of further intensifying the discipline inspection within the Party, strengthening the Party organizational and ideological life and enhancing the guidance and control including organizational control and inspection to make all Party organizations and officials of the state organs fulfil their duties and further perfecting the organizational and institutional measures for vigorously implementing the Party's grand line of socialist construction.

Importantly discussed at the meeting was the issue of further enhancing the functions and role of the Secretariat and all departments of the Party Central Committee.

The General Secretary analyzed the limitations and defects revealed in the activities of the Secretariat and the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee and clarified the measures for overcoming them.

The Presidium of the Political Bureau examined a report of the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters on the spread of the infectious disease as of May 17 and recognized the justness, efficiency and scientific accuracy of the state emergency anti-epidemic policy now in force. And it discussed the issue of continuously maintaining the good chance of winning on the overall anti-epidemic front by adjusting steadily and in a mobile way the state anti-epidemic policy in keeping with the sustained favourable turn like today and changing anti-epidemic situation.

Intensively learning about the work launched to immediately rectify the deviations in medicine supply, the Presidium of the Political Bureau assigned a task to study such additional anti-epidemic measures as the establishment of a medicine supply centre and regional medical treatment centres throughout the country.

At the meeting, the General Secretary made an important conclusion in regard to the implementation of the Party and state anti-epidemic policy at present.

He said that immaturity in the state crisis management capacity revealed from the early period of the trials of the epidemic prevention efforts facing us for the first time since the state founding, and the non-positive attitude, slackness and inactivity of the state leading officials fully disclosed the vulnerable points and openings in our work and resulted in further increasing the complexity and hardships only in the early period of the epidemic prevention campaign when time is of the essence.

He stressed the need to criticize and analyze in depth the evil practices and defects revealed in every sector in the early period of the anti-epidemic war from the developmental point of view and take prompt counter-measures, further perfect the methodology of disseminating in all sectors and arming them with relevant policies of the Party Central Committee and reinforce the state unified command system and obedience system. All units and officials should not allow negligence of the lack of recognition and preparations, wilful interpretation and wilful action in recognizing and overcoming the graveness of the situation, but intensify the education and control to eliminate such practices and increase the intensity of struggle against them, he noted.

He underlined the need to concentrate efforts on the prevention of the spread of the malignant infectious disease and medical treatment for the present under the state emergency anti-epidemic situation and simultaneously push ahead with the material and technological preparations to cope with the future threats and challenges in an all-round way, remedy the recently revealed defects, shortcomings and vulnerable points and reinforce the health and anti-epidemic systems so as to make the health crisis we have faced at present an opportunity for accelerating the development of the state anti-epidemic capacity building.

Saying that redoubled efforts should be made to stabilize the people's life, he stressed the need to more scrupulously organize the work for providing living conditions and supplying daily necessities and make every effort to meet the inhabitants' demand for medical treatment and ensure the conditions for it as much as possible.

Party organizations at all levels should attach importance to the public trend and voices of the masses, learn about them and take measures in time, explain well the justness and scientific accuracy of the emergency steps taken by the Party and the state, raise their awareness of the critical points of and responsibility for the grim state emergency situation, educate and guide all of them to sincerely fulfil their voluntary duty and overcome the anti-epidemic challenge with the united efforts of all the people by relying on them, he said.

The crisis we have faced offered a test board to distinguish between merits and demerits of all working systems of our state, he noted, stressing that we should correctly scrutinize all the phenomena of the emergency situation and take measures from the critical and developmental point of view, unconditionally unify the thoughts and actions of all Party organizations, power organs and all sectors of society with the decisions and orders of the Party Central Committee and make them keep unified pace with the Party Central Committee voluntarily and obligatorily in all state activities.

It is imperative to implant again the idea of the Party Central Committee on attaching importance to Party cells and the role of Party members in all Party organizations and Party cells so as to enhance the core and vanguard role of the Party members, he said.

In particular, it is important to make the cadres lead the Party members and broad masses of people in the van of the fighting areas and fronts, fight valiantly as scouts and fully discharge their duty and role as bulletproof walls, he noted repeatedly.

He affirmed that he would inspire the whole Party to turn out like an erupting volcano once again under the state emergency situation to make the tested leadership peculiar to our Party verified by the history and times and make the Party fulfil its responsibility and thus defend the wellbeing of the country and the people without fail and demonstrate the strength and spirit of heroic Korea to the whole world once again.