The dictator of North Korea made a rare acknowledgment of the poor living conditions in his country at a government meeting this week.
Supreme leader Kim Jong Un said in a Thursday speech to the Workers' Party of Korea that the disparity in quality of life between the countryside and cities must be addressed.
"Today, failure to satisfactorily provide the people in local areas with basic living necessities including condiments, foodstuff and consumption goods has arisen as a serious political issue that our Party and government can never sidestep," the dictator said to the assembly, according to Korean Central News Agency.
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Kim urged any government official who sat idly by while the quality of life deteriorated to "admit without saying a word or an excuse" that they were incapable of carrying out the Workers' Party of Korea agenda.
The supreme leader spoke in a series of winding, verbose statements while lamenting the treatment of poor rural communities.
He told the Workers' Party members, "As we are now in the course of effecting a great change for the project of developing the countryside, which was already raised, through a grand struggle, fully aware of the importance and urgency of the building of a new socialist ideal rural construction in the light of the demand of the turning phase for ushering in a period of socialist comprehensive development, it is easier said than done to undertake and strictly carry out the overall development of regional industry, another front and another great revolutionary stage," Kim said, according to KCNA.
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The address to the party was a rare moment of internal honesty for the regime, which is normally predisposed to championing questionable claims of good governance and social well-being.
North Korea remains one of the poorest countries in the world due to economic mismanagement and widespread international sanctions on its trade.
"North Korea had concentrated its resources in Pyongyang to secure support for the regime among its core population. But resources have become more scarce amid continued sanctions," a South Korean Unification Ministry official said, according to Yonhap News Agency.
North Korea has ostensibly made a clean break from South Korea in recent weeks, announcing an end to any campaigns even superficially seeking reunification.
Kim's regime cited continued military exercises near the country's borders and pressure applied in response to North Korean nuclear-capable drone tests as the reason for the break.
