North Korea starts key party meeting to discuss defence strategy

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his daughter Kim Ju-ae meet with members of the Non-permanent Satellite Launch Preparatory Committee, as he inspects the country's first military reconnaissance satellite, in Pyongyang, North Korea May 16, 2023, in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on May 17, 2023.
PHOTO: KCNA via Reuters

SEOUL — North Korea convened a key party meeting to decide its diplomatic and defence strategy "to cope with the changed international situation", with leader Kim Jong-un attending, state media KCNA said on Saturday (June 17).

The enlarged plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) opened on Friday and plans to also review the country's economic projects during the first half of this year, KCNA said without further elaborating.

The meeting will likely be held for multiple days.

North Korea fired two short-range missiles off its east coast on Thursday, less than an hour after Pyongyang warned of an "inevitable" response to military drills staged earlier in the day by South Korean and US troops. North Korea has said the drills were escalating military tensions.

Last month, Pyongyang unsuccessfully tried to launch a spy satellite, in its first satellite launch since 2016.

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