An article on the first page of Rodong Sinmun on March 11th specified that the North Korean 2024 main project, the 20×10 regional development policy, is the 10-year revolution to realize the party’s long-cherished wish. Of course, Kim Jong Un has already named this policy, the grand struggle of the 10-year goal, 10-year creation war, and 10-year revolution, in his speech at the groundbreaking ceremony of the local industrial factory construction in Sungchun County last 2nd February 28th.
“Our party has once again put our army at the forefront of the 10-year revolution to boost the local economy.”
However, it is the first time it has been selected as a headline in an article. The 10-year revolution is thus a 10-year plan. North Korea is going all out to achieve the five-year plan set as a goal at the 8th Party Congress in 2021; next year, 2025, is the last year of the five-year plan. However, North Korea has set a 10-year plan for this year, which is in the middle of the five-year plan.
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Looking at North Korea’s past economic development plans, after the Korean War, the 3rd Party Congress (1956) set up a five-year plan for new economic development, and the 4th Party Congress (1961) established a seven-year plan for people’s economic development. The 5th Party Congress (1970) set a six-year plan, then the 6th Party Congress (1980), which was held 10 years later, presented the 10 major outlook goals for socialist construction: electricity, coal, steel, non-ferrous metals, cement, chemical fertilizers, textiles, seafood, grains, coastal reclamation while adopting the Juche Ideology as the guiding ideology of the party, formalizing Kim Jong Il’s succession. The economic development plan had previously presented the 2nd 7-year economic development plan (1978-1984) in 1978. Although the 7th Party Congress was held after 36 years, North Korea has continued to establish economic development plans since 1984.
From 1987 to 1993, North Korea set up the 3rd seven-year plan and then faced the period of the Arduous March with the death of Kim Il Sung. Afterwards, in early 2011, the Kim Jong Il regime established a 10-year strategic plan for national economic development. However, Kim Jong Il died in the year he established the 10-year plan. And the 10-year plan turned into a fiasco as soon as Kim Jong Un took over.
The Kim Jong Un regime established a five-year economic plan from 2012 to 2016, which can be evaluated as an economic policy following the early Kim Il Sung regime, although there is a pragmatic aspect. When holding the 7th Party Congress after 36 years in 2016, Kim Jong Un announced a five-year plan, and even at the 8th Party Congress in 2021, he established a five-year economic development plan.
Because Kim Jong Un deemed Kim Jong Il’s 10-year plan as hollow, as soon as Kim Jong Il passed away, Kim Jong Un cut the 10-year plan in half and established a five-year plan. Since then, he had only established a five-year plan through two party congresses. But, this year, he set a 10-year plan. Has the confidence attached to Kim Jong Il in his later years moved on to Kim Jong Un? While Kim Jong Un is confident in presenting a 10-year plan goal, one might wonder if he has not fallen into the trap of delusion that Kim Jong Il had fallen into.
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