North Korea held its third conference of financial and banking officials over the weekend, resuming the rare event after a 25-year hiatus in what could be an emerging sign that the country’s economy has climbed out of the level of subsistence and is gearing up for financial reform.
The Third National Conference of Financial and Banking Officials held on Sunday at the People’s Palace of Culture in Pyongyang was reported by the (North) Korean Central News Agency and Korean Central TV, monitored in Seoul.
“The conference reviewed successes and experience gained by those in the field of finance and banking in the past,” the KCNA said in an English report carried on Sunday.
The meeting also discussed ways to ensure “the financial guarantee for building a thriving nation,” according to the state media.
In a letter sent to the conference, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un highlighted the important role of the financial sector for national development.
“To improve financial and banking work is an inevitable demand for hastening the building of a thriving nation,” Kim was quoted as saying in the letter. “Reliable financial resources are necessary to build the people’s paradise featured by strong national power and great prosperity.”
Kim also ordered “revolutionary measures for steady development” of the financial system, as well as “fluent circulation of currency.”
It was North Korea’s first meeting of its kind since the last second session was held in September 1990 under the leadership of late leader and North Korean founder Kim II-sung.
A host of Cabinet and party officials attended the conference, including Pak Pong-ju, premier of the Cabinet; defense chief Pak Yong-sik; Finance Minister Ki Kwang-ho; and central bank chief Kim Chon-gyun, according to the KCNA.
Under the Kim Jong-un regime, the reclusive country has gotten out of extreme poverty and seems to be gearing up for a radical reform of its financial sector, Cho Bong-hyun, researcher at the state-run Industrial Bank of Korea, said of the latest meeting.
“The plan intends to reform the banking system so as to make it a window for luring in foreign currency and boosting the circulation of money,” Cho noted.
The country is now in the process of mapping out a financial reform plan with guidance from China, and it may create a reform policy out of it and officially announce the policy possibly in the general party meeting set for May next year, he added. (Yonhap)
