North Koreans may also relish a return to Kim Il Sung’s style because North Korea was better off economically during his rule than during Kim Jong Il’s.
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Foreign media: North Korea has invited foreign journalists to cover the event, but their movements, and whom they can speak with, are severely restricted. In a statement released by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) – which is responsible for inter-Korean affairs – the North blamed Washington for setting off the nuclear standoff in the region.
This is only the seventh congress to be held by the WPK. Instead, they were bused to a convention center where they waited outside for more than an hour before being taken back to their hotels. He said the congress would present “the successes of the last 30 years” and a “brilliant plan for the ultimate success of our revolution”.
By the time Kim Il Sung died in 1994, his son had had 20 years of experience.
The congress – the first since 1980 when Kim’s grandfather and the country’s founder Kim Il Sung was in charge – is happening against a backdrop of worldwide tensions that have risen since the North staged its fourth nuclear test followed by a long-range rocket launch that prompted a harsh new round of United Nations sanctions earlier this year. One thing is for sure: the congress is shaping up to be a major opportunity for North Korea’s young and still largely enigmatic leader to step out of the shadows of his father and grandfather and move more toward setting his own personal tone of leadership.
The communist country has yet to announce the duration of the congress with North Korean watchers in Seoul predicting it will run for three or four days.
The 33-year-old Kim, who was not even born when the last Workers’ Party Congress was held in 1980, was expected to deliver a keynote address which will be minutely scrutinised for any policy shift or personnel changes in the governing elite.
“There is a possibility that North Korea could adjust or refine the byeongjin policy”, said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University. For more than two months North Korean workers have increased output in a wide range of sectors, and the campaign has been heavily publicized.
In the previous party congress held in 1980, 177 senior officials from 118 countries attended the gathering, including China’s Vice Premier at the time. It has held other big meetings since notably in 2010 and 2012.
Kim Jong Il virtually disappeared from sight for three years in what was described as a traditional mourning period; when he emerged in 1997 to step into the spotlight as leader, North Korea was in the throes of a deadly starvation that killed hundreds of thousands of his people.
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The DPRK is a nuclear power and the world is watching to see if the DPRK will officially declare itself one.In fact, there have been reports that Pyongyang may conduct its fifth nuclear test in tandem with this congress.In January this year, the DPRK claimed that it carried out a fourth nuclear test with a hydrogen device.
