PYONGYANG, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), closed here on Wednesday, as its top leader used the major party congress to spell out a new five-year plan, state media said Thursday.
Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the WPK, laid out his policy roadmap over the next five years as he delivered a work review report of the Eighth Central Committee of the ruling party, ranging from an overall assessment of the progress in the country's development over the past five years, and a detailed elaboration of the new five-year development plan covering various sectors, to the Asian country's relations with the United States and South Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
In the section of the report on assessment of past progress, Kim declared the last five-year plan for national economic development has been fulfilled, calling the country's transition to the comprehensive development of its socialist construction as "the main task of the revolution," the KCNA said.
Kim also said the security interests of the DPRK have been firmly defended, citing the country's insistence on a self-reliant defence policy line of building up the national defences with the nuclear force as a pivot, as well as the efforts to solidify its status as a nuclear weapons state and a technological modernization in the defence sector.
As another main section of the report, the DPRK leader clarified the long-term goals of each sector during the implementation of the new five-year plan and the tasks to carry out the plan.
Kim stressed the importance of qualitatively consolidating the foundations for the production of the country's key industries, while he called on the light industry sector to focus on the quality improvement and the development of new products, and instructed the agricultural sector to keep intensifying the work to change the grain production structure, according to the KCNA report.
Meanwhile, Kim noted the imperatives to develop the information technology industry, expand external trade and develop tourism into a new industry. He also clarified the tasks and ways for further speeding up the regional development, and asked to make efforts to develop core technologies.
When addressing the national defence plan for the next five years, Kim made clear the DPRK's will on a sustained development of the military capability for self-defence, adding that country will steadily expand and bolster up the self-defensive deterrent and war capabilities, the KCNA report said.
"We have a long-term plan to strengthen the national nuclear force on an annual basis in the future and will concentrate on increasing the number of nuclear weapons and expanding the means and space for nuclear operation," he was quoted by the KCNA as saying.
In addition, the new national defence development plan also features advanced weapon systems like ground-based and underwater-launched Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, various AI unmanned attack systems and electronic warfare weapons systems, among others, according to the KCNA report.
Strategic weapon systems for containing the strategic foes, particularly the main strike means for deterring the targets in the territory of South Korea, and operational and tactical missile systems will be deployed in reinforcement year by year in the next five years, the DPRK leader added in his report.
On international politics, Kim first lashed out at the United States for its hegemonic policy and arbitrary practices that "have seriously shaken the foundations of peace and security in different parts of the world and caused a series of armed conflicts, making the present international situation become more and more chaotic," the KCNA report said.
"The expansion and strengthening of the U.S.-led aggressive blocs in the Asia-Pacific region and their military activities beyond a tolerance limit are clearly bringing about a grave situation that seriously threatens the security of the Korean Peninsula and the region," Kim said in his report.
Noting that the DPRK-U.S. ties depend entirely on Washington's attitude, Kim said there is no reason his country cannot get along with the United States if the latter withdraws its hostile policy. He warned that if the United States does not end its confrontational approach, the DPRK would respond, KCNA reported.
When it comes to inter-Korean relations, the DPRK leader reiterated his designation of the neighboring country as "the most hostile entity" and an "eternal enemy."
"The DPRK has nothing to discuss with the ROK, the most hostile entity, and will exclude the ROK from the category of compatriots forever," Kim was quoted by KCNA as saying, using the acronym of the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.
Kim said his country has defined the inter-Korean relations as "the most hostile state-to-state relationship," calling the designation "the invariable principled stand of our Party and government," the KCNA report said.
The DPRK "will never stick to dialogue and cooperation with the ROK ... which have proved unscientific and unrealistic," he added. ■