SEOUL: North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un admitted there had been mistakes in developing the country's economy as he opened a rare congress of the ruling Workers' Party, state media reported Wednesday.The gathering is the first of its kind in five years, only the eighth in the nuclear-armed North's history, and comes weeks before US President-elect Joe Biden takes office.Relations with Washington have been deadlocked since talks between Kim and President Donald Trump and Kim stalled over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return.At the same time the North is more isolated than ever after it closed its borders last January to protect itself against the coronavirus that first emerged in neighbour and key ally China.The congress opened on Tuesday in the capital, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.On the first day of his work review, Kim said there had been "shining successes achieved by our Party and people", KCNA said, but added that he also "analysed the mistakes manifested in the efforts for implementing the five-year strategy for national economic development".North Korea has suffered from chronic economic mismanagement and the plan was quietly scrapped last year, with a party meeting in
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un explored ways to renew inter-Korean ties and vowed to expand diplomatic relations, state media said on Friday, as he hosted a rare party congress less than two weeks before US President-elect Joe Biden takes office.The eighth congress of the ruling Workers' Party came amid a prolonged gridlock in negotiations aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes in return for US sanction relief.On its third day on Thursday, Kim raised the issue of reshaping South Korean affairs "as required by the prevailing situation and the changed times" and discussed foreign policy, the official KCNA news agency reported, without elaborating.He "declared the general orientation and the policy stand of our party for comprehensively expanding and developing the external relations," KCNA said.Biden will come into office facing the thorny task of engineering a breakthrough in the stalemate, after a second summit between Kim and outgoing US President Donald Trump in 2019 failed to reach agreement.Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Kim was likely seeking to play a more proactive role in South Korea and US ties, emboldened by his country's elevated standing after successful intercontinental ballistic
GHANA (AFP) - Ghanaian soldiers intervened overnight to quell a clash between opposing parties in parliament ahead of the body's swearing-in set for Thursday (Dec 7). Chaotic scenes erupted after a ruling party deputy tried to seize the ballot box during the vote for parliament speaker. The ensuing clash lasted several hours until the army stepped in, with national television broadcasting the drama live. "There was total breakdown of law and order," said MP-elect Kwame Twumasi Ampofo of the opposition National Democratic Congress. "Looking at a member of parliament and a minister of state snatching ballot papers... was so shameful." The new parliament will be virtually split down the middle between the two main parties, posing the risk of gridlock with key issues on the agenda including how to turn around an economy hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. President Nana Akufo-Addo, who narrowly won re-election in the Dec 27 vote, will also be sworn in on Thursday. His New Patriotic Party lost 32 seats in the 275-member parliament.
