N. Korea holds cabinet plenary meeting to discuss economic plans

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shakes hands with North Korean offical in Pyongyang, Jan. 15. Yonhap

North Korea has held a plenary meeting of the cabinet to discuss plans for economic development this year, state media reported Friday.

Premier Kim Tok-hun presided over the meeting held via video link Thursday to discuss follow-up measures put forth at a year-end plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

In the year-end party meeting in December 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the "thorough" implementation of a five-year plan for economic development laid out at the party congress in 2021.

The KCNA said participants of Thursday's meeting adopted decisions detailing measures for the cabinet's operation and state administrative and economic affairs but did not disclose further details.

North Korea has been strengthening the role of the cabinet as the "economic control tower" as the country is grappling with severe food shortages and economic hardships.

The country has been under tightened U.N. sanctions, which call for, among other things, a ban on the country's exports of coal and other mineral resources to cut off North Korea's access to hard currency. (Yonhap)