North Korea’s ruling party started a major policy meeting to lay out priorities for the coming year and how to respond to the Biden administration’s invitation to return to nuclear disarmament talks stalled for about two years.
Leader Kim Jong Un attended the opening session of a Workers’ Party Central Committee meeting Monday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said. Kim and his top cadres planned to "discuss and decide on the strategic and tactical policies,” according to the brief dispatch published early Tuesday.
There was no indication on how long the meeting would take, but previous such meetings lasted as long as four days, according to NK News. Given the year-end timing of the meeting, it was expected that Kim would skip the leader’s traditional New Year’s Day address for the third straight year and instead lay out his views in a speech to party members.