Kim Jong
Un, supreme leader of North Korea, completed his 10th year in power with a
speech that emphasised more on tractor factories and school uniforms than
nuclear weapons or the United States, according to summaries by state media on
Saturday.

Kim said
North Korea’s main goals for 2022 will be well-oiling the economy and improving
people’s lives as it faces a “great life-and-death struggle”, reported Reuters.

Also Read: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un vows to boost military, maintain virus curbs

The North
Korean leader was delivering a speech on Friday at the end of the fourth
Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea
(WPK), which began on Monday.

Kim wants diplomatic ties with South Korea, US

Kim came to
the power in 2011 when his father Kim Jong-il died. In his speech, Kim talked
about launching significant diplomatic engagements with South Korea and the US.
But summaries of his speech published in North Korean state media made no
specific mention of the US, with only a passing reference to unspecified
discussions of inter-Korean relations and “external affairs”.

Also Read: North Korea calls for troops’ greater loyalty to Kim Jong Un

His speech
centred around measures taken by the North Korean government to bring back the
economy to the recovery stage. North Korea’s economy has been ravaged by the
COVID-19 pandemic and self-imposed anti-pandemic border lockdowns.

“The basic
tasks facing the part and the people the next year are to provide a firm
guarantee for implementing the five-year plan and make remarkable changes in
the national development and the people’s living,” Kim was quoted as saying.

Also Read: North Korea holds key meeting as Kim Jong Un marks 10 years in power

Kim also
talked about an ambitious plan for rural development to improve people’s diets,
school uniforms and the need to crack down on “non-socialist practices”.

He cited
unspecified military advancements as a significant achievement of the past year
and discussed “militant tasks” facing national defence in 2022. The tractor factory
he discussed in the speech is also likely to be used to build launch vehicles
for missiles, foreign analysts have said, and North Korea is believed to have
expanded its arsenal despite the lockdowns.

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The big
focus on rural development is likely a populist strategy, said Chad O’Carroll,
founder of NK News, a Seoul-based website that tracks North Korea.

“Overall,
Kim might be aware that revealing sophisticated military development plans
while people are suffering food shortages and harsh conditions outside of
Pyongyang might not be such a good idea this year,” he wrote on Twitter.