NKorea to hold party congress next year
Print Edition
NORTH Korea said yesterday it will convene a congress of its ruling Workers’ Party for the first time in 35 years, reviving a forum last gathered under the rule of current leader Kim Jong Un’s grandfather Kim Il Sung.
The congress — only the seventh since the official founding of the party in 1945 — will be held next May, the party central committee’s politburo said in a statement carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency.
The statement gave no specific indication of what the congress would discuss, although it mentioned the need to “further strengthen the party ... and enhance its leading role.”
Observers said it will provide an opportunity to signal any significant policy shifts or reshuffle the party leadership.
The last congress was held in 1980 under North Korea’s founding leader Kim Il Sung. His son and successor Kim Jong Il never called a congress, and next year’s gathering will be the first for Kim Jong Un.
The decision is clearly partly attributable to the fact that this year is the 70th anniversary of the ruling party’s founding — a milestone marked with a massive military parade and multiple celebrations in Pyongyang earlier this month.
After Kim Il Sung’s death in 1994, Kim Jong Il instituted a “military first” policy that saw a shift in influence from party officials to the generals.
When Kim Jong Un took over in 2011, he replaced scores of powerful military commanders and forged alliances with influential party officials.
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