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☆ North Korea's Kim convenes meeting to improve economy amid fears of food shortages
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Josh Smith | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KCNA via REUTERSSEOUL, Feb 27 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un kicked off a meeting of ruling party officials to discuss improving the country's economy and agricultural sector, state media reported on Monday, as fears of food shortages and a humanitarian crisis grow. International experts say food insecurity has worsened in the isolated nation amid sanctions and COVID-19 lockdowns. Kim oversaw the seventh enlarged plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea on Sunday as it reviewed rural development projects, state news agency KCNA reported. The North Korean food situation appears to have deteriorated, South Korea said this month, with officials in Seoul pointing to the meeting as a de facto acknowledgement of serious shortages. North Korea is under strict international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, and in recent years its limited border trade was virtually choked off by self-imposed lockdowns aimed at preventing COVID-19.

☆ North Korea's Kim orders 'fundamental transformation' of agriculture amid food shortages
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SEOUL, Feb 28 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for a "fundamental transformation" in agricultural production, state media reported on Tuesday, amid fears that the country's food shortage is worsening. The report did not elaborate on what measures North Korea would take, but Kim said the changes need to happen in the next few years. His remark comes amid reports of growing food shortage woes in the country. Earlier this month, South Korea's Unification Ministry said the food situation in the North "seemed to have deteriorated." North Korea is under strict international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

☆ Pro-Putin operatives in Germany work to turn Berlin against Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +17 min

Now the main Russian Cossack organisations are loyal to Putin, and they are fighting alongside Russia’s forces in Ukraine. He is regularly pictured on his and other social media pages at Cossack gatherings, often wearing Cossack military uniform. Felk has worked as a security guard and has run a logistics firm, according to posts on Felk’s OK social media account. Photos shared by Kharkovsky on social media show him and other participants standing in front of a Great Don Army flag. Eremenko confirmed to Reuters that he worked for Russian military intelligence, the GRU.

☆ North Korea's Kim unveils new military goals at key party meeting -KCNA
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the sixth enlarged meeting of the eighth Central Committee of the Workers' Party in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this undated photo released on December 27, 2022 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERSSEOUL, Dec 28 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unveiled new goals for the country's military for 2023 at an ongoing meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, state media reported on Wednesday, hinting at another year of intensive weapons tests and tension. The third-generation leader set the direction for the "anti-enemy struggle" and goals for reinforcing defence power, it added. KCNA did not provide details on those goals, but Kim's remarks could indicate the isolated country will continue to accelerate its military buildup. North Korean leaders previously made speeches on New Year Day, but in recent years, Kim has called days-long party gatherings at the end of the year to announce major policy decisions.

☆ North Korea's Kim kicks off key party meeting ahead of New Year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the sixth enlarged meeting of the eighth Central Committee of the Workers' Party in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this undated photo released on December 26, 2022 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERSSEOUL, Dec 27 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has kicked off a key meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, state media reported on Tuesday, a venue he has often used to announce major policy decisions marking the New Year. The Sixth Enlarged Plenary Meeting of 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) was convened on Monday, the official KCNA news agency said. Kim also faces mounting economic challenges amid international sanctions over its weapons programmes, the fallout from an anti-coronavirus lockdown and natural disasters. North Korean state media previously released its leader's speech on New Year Day, but in recent years, Kim has called party gatherings at the end of the year to make major policy announcements.

☆ China steps up support for private sector to boost Covid-hit economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Hong Kong CNN —Beijing has vowed to go all out next year to save its Covid-hit economy by boosting consumption and loosening control over private industry, including the struggling tech and property sectors. Covid infections are surging in China after leaders unexpectedly eased its restrictive Covid policy earlier this month. Stabilizing economic growth is the top priority for 2023, according to an official readout following the conclusion of the Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC), a key annual meeting of top leaders, which ended Friday. “We need to encourage and support the private sector economy and private enterprise in terms of policy and public opinion,” the statement said. A shopping mall is decorated with rabbit stickers to welcome the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rabbit, on December 10, 2022 in Beijing, China.

☆ China's economy faltered before major Covid policy shift, retail sales and unemployment data show
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Retail sales declined 5.9% in November from a year ago, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. It was the worst contraction in retail spending since May, when widespread Covid lockdowns, including in the country’s richest city Shanghai, pummeled the economy. Property sales by value plummeted by more than 26%. Last week, customs data showed the country’s exports contracted 8.7% in November from a year ago, the worst performance since February 2020. China’s economy has been battered by its stringent zero-Covid policy and persistent property woes this year.

☆ First Russia, now China? Europe doesn’t appear ready to ‘decouple’ from Beijing just yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Marie Brockling | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Scholz was the first leader of a Group of 7 nations to visit China since the start of the pandemic, which was first detected there in 2019. China’s relations with Europe have deteriorated amid tensions over Taiwan, human rights issues and Beijing’s tacit support for Russia in its war on Ukraine. China has welcomed Scholz’s visit, saying it would “contribute to world peace, stability and growth.” But it received considerable pushback in Europe. Fears over Chinese interferenceScholz’s one-day visit to Beijing comes amid heightened fears in Europe over Chinese interference abroad. Wang suggested Europe could have the “best of both worlds” by playing a mediating role between Beijing and Washington.

☆ North Korea fires artillery into sea as South Korea, U.S. pledge cooperation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

North Korea fired multiple missiles into the sea on Thursday, including a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), prompting the United States and South Korea to extend air drills that have angered Pyongyang. Beginning shortly before midnight on Thursday, South Korea's military said it had detected more than 80 artillery rounds fired into the sea by North Korea, in what it says is a violation of a 2018 inter-Korean agreement. The South issued a warning communication to the North over the firing, the South Korean Ministry of Defence said in a statement. South Korea and the United States also say that North Korea has completed technical preparation to test a nuclear device at any time, in what would be its first nuclear test since 2017. "The United States and South Korea will find that they have made a terrible mistake that cannot be reversed," said Pak.

[1/2] People watch a TV broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing three ballistic missiles into the sea, in Seoul, South Korea, November 2, 2022. South Korean warplanes fired three air-to-ground missiles into the sea north across the NLL in response, the South's military said. The South's launches came after Yoon's office vowed a "swift and firm response" so North Korea "pays the price for provocation". The North Korean weapon was one of three short-range ballistic missiles fired from the North Korean coastal area of Wonsan into the sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. It was the first time a North Korean ballistic missile had landed near South Korean waters, JCS said.

☆ North Korea says U.S.-South Korea drills 'can no longer be tolerated'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A North Korean flag flutters at the propaganda village of Gijungdong in North Korea, in this picture taken near the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, South Korea, July 19, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/Pool/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - North Korea on Tuesday again demanded that the United States and South Korea halt joint military exercises, saying such "rashness and provocation can be no longer tolerated," while the White House said concern remains high about the potential for a North Korean nuclear test. In denouncing the drills in a statement carried by North Korea's official news agency, Pak Jong Chon, secretary of the Central Committee of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, warned the United States and South Korea against any attempt to attack. North Korea's foreign ministry on Monday demanded an end to the drills, saying they could draw "more powerful follow-up measures" from Pyongyang. North Korea and South Korea remain technically at war since an armistice agreement ended fighting in the 1950-1953 Korean War.

☆ Xi Jinping just became unassailable. Here’s why investors are running scared
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Xi’s preference for personal loyalty over technocratic competence bodes ill for China’s already bleak economic outlook, analysts said. “In effect, Xi Jinping establishes an echo chamber around his own ideas,” she said. People watch the opening session of the 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress in Huaibei, in China's eastern Anhui province. Li Qiang, the party boss of Shanghai who presided over the city’s chaotic two-month lockdown, is now the second-highest ranking party official after Xi. The NDRC is China’s top economic planner, responsible for drafting the country’s economic plans and overseeing major state investment projects.

☆ China is about to hold the most important meeting in its political calendar. Here’s what you need to know.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Rhoda Kwan | Rhoda Kwan Is A Taipei-Based Journalist. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

China is about to hold the most important meeting in its political calendar, the five-yearly Communist Party congress, where President Xi Jinping is expected to gain an unprecedented third term as the country’s leader. What is the Communist Party congress? State media report that these representatives were "elected" but all of them were carefully vetted and no open campaigning is allowed. A Central Committee of around 200 voting members will also pick 25 members for the Politburo, the highest policy-making body in the world's second largest economy. “It’s not just about ideas, it’s really about signaling a leader’s power and legacy,” David Bandurski, the co-director at the China Media Project, a research program that analyses the country’s media landscape, said.

☆ Hu Jintao Fast Facts
▼ + stars: | 2012-12-20 | by ( Cnn Editorial Research | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

1982-1985 - Works for the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, eventually becoming its leader. 1992-1997 - Member of the 14th CPC Central Committee, the Politburo and the Standing Committee. 1993-2002 - President CPC, Central Committee’s Central Party School. 1997-2002 - Member of the 15th CPC Central Committee, the Politburo, the Standing Committee and later the Secretariat. 2002 - Becomes a member of the 16th CPC Central Committee, the Politburo and the Standing Committee.

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