N Korean ruling party meets amid expectation of nuclear test

 
INA-sources
 
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has convened a political conference where he’s expected to review state affairs, including a COVID-19 outbreak, and possibly address relations with Washington and Seoul amid his revived nuclear brinkmanship.
 
The plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee began Wednesday in the capital, Pyongyang, the official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday, and may last several days.
 
The meeting comes amid signs North Korea is preparing for its first nuclear test explosion in nearly five years, which would further escalate a provocative streak in weapons demonstrations this year that has included multiple tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
 
KCNA published photos of the meeting’s participants walking into a party building and said they approved of the agenda that would be discussed, which wasn’t specified.
 
State media previously said the meeting would review state affairs and make decisions on a “series of important issues.” The meeting is likely to address the country’s COVID-19 outbreak. Officials at the World Health Organization said Wednesday they believed the outbreak was worsening and requested more information be shared with the U.N. health agency.
 
South Korean officials and experts have said Kim may address relations with the United States and rival South Korea amid long-stalled diplomacy and double down on his ambitions to build a nuclear arsenal that could threaten U.S. allies and the American homeland.
 
During the party's previous plenary meeting in December, Kim repeated his vow to boost his military nuclear program and order the production of more powerful and sophisticated weapons systems during discussions that lasted a record five days.
 
The North Korean meeting took place as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with her counterparts from South Korea and Japan on Wednesday in Seoul, emphasizing trilateral security cooperation in the face of the accelerating North Korean threat. She warned a “swift and forceful response” if the North proceeds with a nuclear test but didn’t elaborate.
 
Sherman’s visit to Asia came after North Korea launched a single-day record of eight ballistic missiles into the sea from multiple locations across its territory on Sunday, prompting the U.S. and its Asian allies to respond with tit-for-tat missile launches and aerial demonstrations involving dozens of fighter jets.
 
In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, North Korean envoy Kim Song berated those pushing for strengthened sanctions against the North over its weapons tests. He said his country was exercising its rights to self-defense by modernizing its weapons while facing “direct threats” by the United States, which is “hell bent on reinforcing” its military might in the Korean Peninsula and northern Asia.
 
His comments were backed by envoys from China and Russia, who questioned the effectiveness of sanctions in slowing North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs. China’s envoy urged the United States to make significant concessions, such as lifting sanctions in certain areas and halting its joint military exercises with Asian allies that North Korea portrays as invasion rehearsals.
 
 
Source: AP