Kim stirs suspense with rare meeting on ‘mystery issues’

Bloomberg

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is convening a key ruling party body on Wednesday for the first time in eight months to address a “crucial” mystery issue. He’s got plenty of tricky situations to choose from.
The state’s official Korean Central News Agency offered few clues about the gathering of the Central Committee, saying it will “discuss and decide on an issue of crucial significance in developing the Korean revolution and increasing the fighting efficiency of the Party.” It didn’t elaborate.
Kim is facing difficulties on various fronts, both at home and abroad. Floods have wiped out farmland to deal another blow to the virus-hit economy, while a reported health scare earlier this year raised questions about succession. His nuclear discussions with President Donald Trump have also ground to a halt without him winning any sanctions relief, and the US and South Korea this week kicked off joint military drills.
“The unusual succession of party meetings in recent months — and possibly even the lack of much North Korean activity on the foreign policy front of late, for example weapons testing — suggest the quarantine measures and the global pandemic have had serious ramifications for the economy and the people’s living standards,” said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a former US government analyst specialising in North Korea.
North Korea has boasted that it doesn’t have any confirmed cases of Covid-19, a claim doubted by US and Japanese officials. The virus brings large risk to the impoverished state, whose antiquated medical systems could be overwhelmed by a large outbreak.