North Korea opens major party congress with Kim emphasizing economy

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has opened its most important political event in which leader Kim Jong Un is expected to map out his domestic and foreign policy agenda for the next five years and further entrench his family’s authoritarian rule.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Friday that the ruling Workers’ Party Congress opened in Pyongyang the previous day with Kim delivering a speech emphasizing the economy.

Kim said the country has made significant progress since the 2021 congress, held during the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, citing economic gains and a firmer regional footing that he said marked an “irreversible” strengthening of the state’s status.

“This created favorable conditions and circumstances for giving a greater spur to our socialist construction,” he said. “Our party is faced with heavy and urgent historic tasks of boosting economic construction and the people’s standard of living and transforming all realms of state and social life as early as possible.”

State media didn’t immediately mention any comments by Kim that directly addressed his standoffs with the United States and South Korea or his nuclear weapons program.

Kim in recent years has leveraged Russia’s war on Ukraine to advance his nuclear and missile capabilities and tighten alignment with Moscow, providing thousands of troops and substantial military equipment to sustain Russia’s campaign, possibly in exchange for economic aid and military technologies. He has also pursued stronger relations with China, traditionally the North’s primary ally and economic lifeline, traveling to Beijing last year for a World War II event and having his first summit in six years.

While North Korea’s strict information blockade obscures its true economic state, outside experts suggest there has been a gradual recovery, likely boosted by a post-pandemic rebound in trade with China and weapons exports to Russia.

The congress, which will likely run for days, came after a weekslong build up during which Kim flaunted his military capabilities and toured military sites and major industrial and housing projects to tout his alleged achievements over the past five years. About 5,000 delegates are participating in the congress, including 224 members of the party’s central leadership, Kim said.

Experts say Kim will likely use the meeting to lay out his next economic goals and further plans to expand his nuclear-armed military, already equipped with various systems targeting U.S. allies in Asia and long-range missiles potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers last week it is watching for signs that Kim could use the congress to position his teenage daughter — believed to be named Kim Ju Ae and about 13 — as a potential successor, formalizing the regime’s fourth-generation succession.

Diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington has been frozen since 2019, following the collapse of a summit between Kim and President Donald Trump over disagreements regarding U.S.-led sanctions on the North’ nuclear program. Kim’s government has rebuffed U.S. offers for dialogue since Trump began his second term, demanding that Washington first abandon its calls for the North’s denuclearization as a precondition for any talks.

North Korea has also suspended nearly all talks and cooperation with South Korea since Kim’s fallout with Trump. Relations between the rivals have worsened in recent years as Kim discarded the North’s long-standing goal of peaceful reunification and declared a hostile “two-state” system on the Korean Peninsula, a stance he may further institutionalize in the Workers’ Party’s constitution during the congress, experts say.