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Seoul: Kim Jong Un thanked North Koreans for supporting his leadership in “tough times” in a rare handwritten New Year’s letter published on Friday (January 1) ahead of a crucial ruling party congress that will set the economic goals of the country.
The personal message came after the isolated North staged a performance of fireworks, chants and dancing in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square to usher in the new year, despite the coronavirus pandemic, which the North still insists. it has not reached its shores.
State television showed the participants wearing face masks, but standing together while waving bright lights and balloons in Kim Il Sung Square. Giant snowman characters applauded as performers sang songs with patriotic refrains like “Glory to General Kim Jong Un” and “I like my country better.”
Kim usually delivers a televised speech on January 1 that is scrutinized by Korean watchers for signs of where the lonely state is heading in the new year.
But he skipped the occasion last year, replacing it with an address he had delivered at a party meeting the previous year.
He is expected to drop the televised address again this year ahead of the country’s first congress in five years.
LEE: North Korea prepares for an important party congress amid growing challenges
State media have said the event will take place in early January, but they have yet to specify the exact dates.
“I sincerely wish all the families across the country greater happiness and dear people, good health,” Kim said in the letter broadcast by Korea’s Central News Agency.
“In the new year, too, I will work hard to usher in the new era in which the ideals and wishes of our people will come true.
“I thank the people for having invariably trusted and supported our Party even in difficult times,” he added, apparently referring to the economic difficulties brought on by international sanctions and strict measures against the coronavirus.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un writes a letter to everyone on New Year’s Day in this photo provided by North Korea’s Central News Agency on December 31, 2020 (Photo: KCNA / via REUTERS).
South Korean media said it was the first time since 1995 that a North Korean leader had sent a New Year’s card to the country’s citizens, the latest from Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il.
Kim also visited the Kumsusan Sun Palace mausoleum on the outskirts of Pyongyang at midnight, according to KCNA, to pay his respects to his grandfather and father, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung and his successor Kim Jong Il.
The congress, which is expected to set out a new economic and political plan, will be the first such meeting in five years, and only the eighth in North Korean history.
The 2016 congress was the first in North Korea in 36 years.
The congress is expected to take place before Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20 as president of the United States.
Relations with the United States have stalled since talks between President Donald Trump and Kim stalled early last year.
Nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and the Trump administration came to a standstill after the collapse of the Hanoi summit in early 2019 over sanctions relief.
The incoming US president has characterized Kim as a “bully”, while Pyongyang has called Biden a “mad dog.”
