North Korea’s Kim wants better living standards, arms

SEOUL (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday called for improving the economy and living standards of his impoverished nation with the same urgency that scientists showed in successfully testing a long-range rocket recently.

Mr. Kim’s first New Year’s speech, delivered on state TV, was peppered with rhetoric, with calls for boosting the military’s capabilities and making the science and technology sector world class. But other passages in the speech were also an acknowledgement of the poor state of the country’s economy, which long has lagged behind the rest of the region.

North Korea has little arable land, is prone to natural disasters and struggles to grow enough food for its 24 million people.

The annual New Year's Day message lays out North Korea’s policy goals for the year. But Mr. Kim gave no indication whether he plans to introduce economic reforms or allow free enterprise, except to say the economy should be underpinned by science and technology.

“The industrial revolution in the new century is, in essence, a scientific and technological revolution, and breaking through the cutting edge is a shortcut to the building of an economic giant,” he said.

He then pointed at the success of a long-range rocket that North Korea fired on Dec. 12, ostensibly carrying a satellite into space.

“Let us bring about a radical turn in the building of an economic giant with the same spirit and mettle as were displayed in conquering space,” he said.

North Korea has hailed the rocket as a big step in peaceful space exploration. Washington and others called the launch a banned test of ballistic missile technology and a step in Pyongyang’s pursuit of a nuclear-tipped long-range missile.

North Korea has tested two atomic devices since 2006, both times weeks after U.N. condemnation of a long-range launch. A recent analysis of North Korea’s main nuclear test site indicates readiness for a possible third atomic explosion.

Mr. Kim made no mention of nuclear weapons but indicated that the military will continue to be boosted.

“The sector of defense industry should develop in larger numbers sophisticated military hardware of our own style that can contribute to implementing the Party’s military strategy,” he said.

“Only when it builds up its military might in every way can it develop into a thriving country and defend the security and happiness of its people,” Mr. Kim said.

The speech itself was a signal that Mr. Kim will continue with a leadership style more in line with his gregarious grandfather, national founder Kim Il-sung, who routinely addressed his people on New Year's Day, than with his father, Kim Jong-il, who avoided making public speeches. Kim Jong-il never gave a TV address during his 17-year-rule, and his New Year’s messages were published as joint editorials in the nation’s three major newspapers.

With the speech — the first televised New Year's Day message by a North Korean leader in 19 years — Kim Jong-un has tried to tap into North Koreans’ fond memories of his grandfather, said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in South Korea.

The rocket launch boosted public morale, Mr. Koh said. “Now people are expecting him to improve the economy and help them live better economically,” hesaid. “Kim Jong-un knows that and feels the pressure of meeting that demand.”

Story Continues →

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.