North Korea has outlined plans to normalize industrial production and meet its economic goals this year, despite the “worst-ever upheaval” last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, state media said yesterday.
The North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly held meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the government budget, economic policy and personnel changes, the country’s official KCNA news agency said.
North Korea’s economy shrank in 2021 for a second straight year after suffering its biggest contraction in more than two decades the year before, hit by COVID-19 lockdowns and international sanctions over its weapons programs, the South Korean central bank said.
Photo: AP
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not join the meeting, but Cabinet Premier Kim Tok-hun reviewed last year’s work and laid out tasks this year for key industries.
The premier lauded the country for “successfully tackling the worst-ever upheaval since the founding of the country” amid the COVID-19 outbreak, despite “shortcomings” in implementing last year’s plans.
The Cabinet aims to expedite the production of overall sectors and make this year “a year of great turn and change in the course of development” marking the 75th anniversary of the country’s foundation, he said.
“It will make sure that the economic indices and 12 major goals to be attained by all the sectors of the national economy are carried out without fail,” Kim Tok-hun said, according to KCNA.
He called for normalizing the production of metal factories and reinforcing iron mines and steel plants, and for operating chemical plants “at full capacity” to accelerate construction projects.
The country is also take “strong measures” to supply equipment, materials, and funds to boost coal production, the premier said.
In another KCNA dispatch on budget deliberations, North Korean Minister of Finance Ko Jong-bom said this year’s overall spending is expected to rise by 101.7 percent from last year.
About 45 percent of the total expenditure is to be directed toward promoting the economy and people’s livelihoods, while defense spending is to consist of 15.9 percent, about the same as last year, Ko said.
The budget should support defense, developing the economy and improving the people’s standard of living,” Ko told the assembly.
STEADY: Prices are to rebound following inventory rebuilding demand, TrendForce said, with Samsung Electronics Co further trimming capacity as it slashes DDR4 lines The contract prices of DRAM chips are to rise by as much as 18 percent sequentially this quarter — the first price upticks in about eight quarters — driven mainly by inventory rebuilding demand for DRAM chips used in mobile devices and PCs, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) projected yesterday. The price rebound is led by a quarterly increase of mobile DRAM chips, which are to climb between 13 percent and 18 percent quarter-on-quarter this quarter, which has not been seen since the fourth quarter of 2021, the Taipei-based market researcher predicted. Likewise, the price of mainstream PC DDR4 DRAM is expected to bounce
SOLID FOUNDATION: Given its decades of expertise in megatronics, manufacturing and robotics, Japan has the wherewithal to create its own AI, Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp plans to help build an artificial intelligence (AI) tech-related ecosystem in Japan to meet demand in a country eager to gain an edge in this emerging technology. The US company will seek to partner with Japanese research organizations, companies and start-ups to build factories for AI, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday during opening remarks in a meeting with Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura. The company is to set up an AI research laboratory, and invest in local start-ups and educate the public on using AI, Huang said. Huang earlier this week met with Japanese Prime
A Hong Kong court postponed a court hearing on troubled Chinese property developer Evergrande Group’s (恆大集團) winding-up petition scheduled for yesterday until Jan. 29. Evergrande is trying to win support from its creditors for a plan to restructure more than US$300 billion in debt to stave off liquidation. The company’s lawyer told the court it was requesting an adjournment to “refine” its new debt restructuring plan. The Hong Kong High Court has postponed the hearing over Evergrande’s potential liquidation several times. Judge Linda Chan (陳靜芬) had said in October that yesterday’s hearing would be the last before a decision is handed down. Chan
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) is among a field of “very formidable” competitors to Nvidia Corp in the race to produce the best artificial intelligence (AI) chips, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday. Huawei, Intel Corp and an expanding group of semiconductor start-ups pose a stiff challenge to Nvidia’s dominant position in the market for AI accelerators, Huang told reporters in Singapore. Shenzhen-based Huawei has grown into China’s chip tech champion and returned to the spotlight this year with an advanced made-in-China smartphone processor. “We have a lot of competitors, in China and outside China,” Huang said. “Most of our competitors