North Korea Fires Missiles Over 'Rice Prices' Saying "The Most Important Thing Is the Dignity of the People"

"Strengthening Defense Capabilities to Ensure Prosperity for Generations to Come"

Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of North Korea Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] North Korea has insisted that its focus on strengthening national defense amid hardships is "for the people." This is interpreted as an attempt to soothe public sentiment ahead of the year-end review, as North Korea, facing a severe food shortage, has spent hundreds of billions of won launching missiles.

On the 13th, the Workers' Party organ, Rodong Sinmun, in an article titled "Our Party Wins with Faith and Love for the People," stated, "There is no mission more important to our Party than protecting and glorifying the dignity and destiny of the people," and claimed, "The reason our Party has devoted efforts to strengthening national defense even amid such severe trials is to ensure that our people never suffer the horrors of war and enjoy blessings for generations to come."

It continued, "The Party's elevation of the Republic's strategic status to the highest level and the establishment of a strong development potential based on self-defensive national defense, self-reliant economic power, and independent scientific and technological capabilities serve as a tremendous foundation to firmly guarantee the people's independent dignity, destiny, and future despite any adversity."

In particular, it used the expression, "Our people, who have learned to protect their independent dignity and lives and overcome enemies and difficulties amid the harshest trials and challenges in history."

However, some experts estimate the cost of each North Korean missile launch at around 3 million USD (about 4 billion KRW) and criticize North Korea for exploiting its citizens to develop weapons. The claims published in the newspaper appear to urge performance ahead of the year-end review amid the food crisis while trying to calm public sentiment.

Meanwhile, in another article, the newspaper listed various laws enacted and supplemented over the past decade, claiming that residents have benefited greatly from the Party's measures.

The newspaper asserted, "(Recently) laws of love, including the Childcare Law, Emergency Epidemic Prevention Law, and City and County Construction Cement Guarantee Law, have been adopted, deeply moving the hearts of the people." It added that laws related to the implementation of comprehensive 12-year compulsory education, education guideline enforcement, park and amusement area management, urban management, urban beautification, air pollution prevention, spring water management, convenience service, and the guarantee of living conditions for discharged military officers have been adopted or revised.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.