`NK heir apparent pledges economic recovery in 3 years`

North Korea’s heir apparent Kim Jong Un has pledged economic recovery for his poverty-stricken country within three years, the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun said Monday.

“I will enable the people to eat rice and beef soup within three years,” he was quoted as saying, reiterating a goal of his late grandfather and the North’s founder Kim Il Sung.

Citing Chinese sources familiar with the North’s situation, the newspaper said Kim Jong Un told a conference in Pyongyang early last month, “We’ll have to revive our economy to the level of the 1960s and 70s within three years, and attain a living standard at which people can eat rice and beef soup, live in tile-roofed houses, and wear silk clothing.”

Yomiuri said “rice and beef soup” was the goal Kim Il Sung targeted for his people’s living standard, noting that Kim Jong Un made the comment to emphasize his spearheading of economic recovery with his late grandfather’s backing and legacy.

The conference was considered an economic meeting and hosted by Jang Song Taek, the brother-in-law of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and the administrative chief of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party. The event was attended by business managers and economic experts.

Since his selection as successor in September, Kim Jong Un has repeatedly commented on the North Korean economy, saying, “In the past, it was okay if we had no food as long as we had bullets, but today, we need food even if we don’t have bullets.”

The North has designated 2012, the centennial birthday of Kim Il Sung, as the “first year” of becoming a powerful and great nation and announced the reinforcement of national power as its official goal.

changkim@donga.com