North Korean head of state Kim Jong-un has offered a rather negative assessment of the current situation in his country during a recent political conference in Pyongyang.
Kim delivered this remark in an opening speech to at a meeting of the Workers' Party's cell secretaries on Tuesday, as North Korea continues to endure the US-led sanctions and the ongoing coronavirus lockdown.
"Improving the people's living standards... even in the worst-ever situation in which we have to overcome unprecedentedly numerous challenges depends on the role played by the cells, the grassroots organisations of the party," he said, as quoted by AP.
Kim also called upon the party members to carry out the decisions that were made at a party congress in January, where he urged to "further strengthen the nuclear war deterrent" and spoke about fulfilling a new five-year economic development plan.
In his speech during this week’s conference, the North Korean head of state also spoke about the party grassroots units’ unspecified "shortcomings", insisting that said shortcomings should be corrected to ensure the "healthy and sustainable" development of the party, AP adds.