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Workers, technicians and officials celebrate the completion of a construction project at the Hwanghae Iron and Steel Complex on Sept. 30. KCNA-Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

Ri Ki-song in Pyongyang. AP

A Pyongyang economist on Monday called for changes in the regime's economic policies to expand the autonomy of enterprises and ensure the responsibility of workers.

North Korea's party mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun published the call in a column titled "An important demand to carry on the new strategic route of the party" by Ri Ki-song, a professor at North Korea's Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Economy, who has promoted the North Korean economy in interviews with foreign media.

Ri emphasized the importance of the "socialist system of responsibility management of enterprises," saying that national economic policies should focus more on improving the achievements of enterprises and workers by giving them more autonomy and responsibility.

"It is important to take strong and practical measures so that the socialist enterprises, the basic units of production and management, can demonstrate their responsibility, initiative and creativity, with the socialist system of responsibility management of enterprises having effects," Ri wrote.