Bloomberg reports on the story, but I made some title corrections in the blurb below:
Kim this month named [Premier] Pak Pong Ju, 77, to the [Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK], making him the highest-ranking official to lead a new five-year economic plan. The regime’s leader announced the blueprint at the first full party congress in 36 years, held as he seeks to tighten his grip on power.
Pak has had a rocky past, sacked as premier by Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, about a decade ago and demoted to supervisor of a chemical factory. His policy of encouraging free enterprise while increasing wages and consumer prices to help the country cope with the rise of unofficial markets had unnerved die-hard socialists.
Pak also serves on the Central Military Commission. More analysis here.
