During a party meeting

North Korea's leader admits to making mistakes

Kim Jong Un during the ruling Labor Party conference.

A.F.B.

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, admitted making mistakes in economic policy at the start of a new conference of the ruling Workers' Party, the official news agency reported yesterday.

At the outset of his speech in Pyongyang, Kim said that the goals of the five-year development plan, which were drawn up in 2016, had been failed to achieve "in most aspects", according to the Central News Agency.

Kim promised that the party would search for a new way "to take a radical leap forward."

North Korea is subject to international sanctions over its nuclear weapons program.

Officially, the congress, which was supposed to take place every five years, is the most important body of the party.

However, the seventh conference, held in May 2016, was the first in 36 years.

The congress will review the work of the CPC Central Committee, and present a new development plan for the next five years.

South Korea hopes that the party conference will provide "an opportunity to contribute to achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula, and to advance inter-Korean relations," according to the Seoul Unification Ministry said in a statement.

North Korea is one of the few countries in the world that has not recorded a single infection with the Coronavirus, although international observers are skeptical of claims that the virus is not spreading there.

Kim promised that the party would search for a new way "to take a radical leap forward."

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