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North Korea’s cabinet will tighten its grip on the economy after the shock execution of leader Kim Jong-un’s uncle, whose control over key sectors weakened the country’s finances, a senior official said. |
Jang Song-thaek, the once-powerful uncle and political regent to the young leader, was executed on December 12 on charges of corruption and plotting a coup, but his growing influence over lucrative minerals business angered Kim Jong-un and other top officials.
Jang’s excessive intervention contributed to the North’s economic troubles, Kim Jong-ha, chief secretary of the secretariat of the cabinet said in an interview with the Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan.
“The cabinet will fulfil its function properly as a control tower of the economy,” he said, adding that it was trying to regain control over projects and put them in order.
North Korea will also move to independently produce and reprocess coal and other natural resources for exports, the official said.
The impoverished but mineral-rich North has sought for years to bolster its crumbling economy by increasing exports of minerals. It has sold mining rights to China investors who control much of its resources business.
Jang’s purge and execution sparked speculation that he had lost out in a power struggle with hardline army generals, but South Korea’s spy chief Nam Jae-joon told parliament Monday that it had stemmed from his attempt to control lucrative state businesses especially related to coal.