NORTH Korea has opened its ruling party congress, held every five years, with leader Kim Jong Un highlighting past economic achievements and successes in “all realms” including defence, diplomacy and politics, its staterun media said Friday.
The gathering of the Workers’ Party of Korea, convened on Thursday with 5,000 delegates attending, is expected to last several days. Kim said the country fulfilled the five-year national economic development plan set forth at the previous congress in January 2021, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
His opening speech did not touch on Pyongyang’s relations with the United States and South Korea as well as its nuclear and missile programmes.
Observers are watching for decisions on North Korean foreign and defence policies for the next five years and whether the leader’s daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae and in her teens, will receive an official title. Earlier this month, South Korea’s spy agency said the daughter had entered the “internal appointment stage” towards becoming Kim’s designated successor, citing her continued public prominence. KCNA did not report if she attended Thursday’s congress session.
Kim said in his speech that back in 2021 the country faced conditions “so harsh that we could hardly maintain our own existence”.
Kyodo
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