Kim blames officials for N Korea's economic failures

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has blamed officials for the country;s economic failiures. Kim Jong Un ripped into the performance of his Cabinet and fired a senior economic official he appointed a month ago, saying they'd failed to come up with new ideas to salvage an economy in decay.The diplomacy he had hoped would lift US-led sanctions over his nuclear program is stalemated, and pandemic border closures and crop-killing natural disasters last year deepened the damage to an economy broken by decades of policy failures. The state media released a report on Friday comes during the toughest period of Kim's nine-year rule.

The current challenges had forced Kim to publicly admit that past economic plans hadn't succeeded. A new five-year plan to develop the economy was issued during the ruling Workers' Party congress in January, but Kim's comments during the party's Central Committee meeting that ended Thursday were rich with frustration with how the plans were being executed so far. Kim lamented that the Cabinet was failing in its role as the key institution managing the economy, saying it was producing unworkable plans while displaying no innovative viewpoint and clear tactics. He said the Cabinet's targets for agricultural production this year were set unrealistically high, considering limited supplies in farming materials and other unfavorable conditions. He said the Cabinet's targets for electricity production was set too low, showing a lack of urgency when shortages could stall work at coal mines and other industries.