Kim tells inner circle his ‘profound’ plan

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Kim tells inner circle his ‘profound’ plan

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According to North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, presided over a session of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party on Monday and described a “profound analysis and appraisal” of recent developments in inter-Korean ties. [YONHAP]

Kim Jong-un made a “profound analysis and appraisal” of the recent developments in inter-Korean ties and the prospect of North Korea-United States dialogue during a recent political meeting, the regime’s state-run media reported Tuesday ahead of two summits with Seoul and Washington.

Kim, presiding over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee within the ruling Workers’ Party on Monday in Pyongyang, was quoted by the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as saying he “set forth the strategic and tactical issues to be maintained” by the Workers’ Party, and the “future policy of international relations and the orientation corresponding to them,” according to an English report that did not specify further details.

Kim also proclaimed that the inter-Korean summit would be held on April 27 at Peace House on the southern side of the Panmunjom truce village, making it the first time North Korean media has announced the date and venue of his first face-to-face interaction with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

The two Koreas ironed out the two details on March 29 during a high-level meeting. A day after, KCNA reported that Kim and Moon would hold a summit.

North Korean media has largely refrained from mentioning the South-North summit, as opposed to South Korean media, which has been going to town with related stories. Even after five special envoys of Moon visited Pyongyang in early March to meet with Kim and decide to hold an inter-Korean summit, the KCNA reported that both sides reached a “satisfactory agreement,” without mentioning anything on a possible Kim-Moon contact.

“The North appears to have left open the possibility that things could change even though it decided in principle to hold a summit with South Korea,” said a local government source. “The [KCNA] report on Tuesday is basically on the Politburo meeting, but it’s also an internal announcement disclosing the specifics of the upcoming meeting, namely the date and schedule.”

On why the North didn’t mention a summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday, calling it instead “DPRK-U.S. dialogue,” another Seoul government official said it seems the regime was refraining from making any hasty announcements when the two countries have yet to agree on a precise date or location for the meeting.

Today, the North is scheduled to hold a major parliamentary meeting in which the country’s rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly, usually makes critical decisions on spending, legal revisions and personnel reshuffles at state organs.

Since Kim rose to power following his father’s death in December 2011, North Korea held eight parliamentary meetings in total, once or twice each year. In April 2012, just two months after the regime carried out its third nuclear test, the regime revised its Constitution to proclaim itself a nuclear state.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]
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