Kim Jong Un’s inner circle readies for once-in-five-years party meet

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has convened senior officials to prepare for the ruling party’s first full congress in five years, state media said on Wednesday, as the United States and South Korea continue to push for renewed dialogue with Pyongyang.

According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim presided over a plenary session of the Workers’ Party Central Committee on Tuesday. Members began discussions on major issues connected to the congress and reviewed policy decisions made over the past year. KCNA offered no further details, though analysts expect the meeting to run for several days and determine the formal agenda for the party congress, likely to be held in January or February.

The party congress — the highest decision-making body of the Workers’ Party — was reinstated by Kim in 2016 after a gap of more than three decades, seen at the time as an attempt to consolidate his authority by elevating the role of party institutions.

Attention will now turn to whether Kim uses the upcoming congress to signal a shift in relations with Washington and Seoul. Since the collapse of denuclearisation talks with then US President Donald Trump in 2019, North Korea has refused repeated calls from both capitals to return to negotiations. Some experts believe Pyongyang could be more receptive next year.

Kim hinted in September that talks might resume if the US abandoned what he called its “delusional obsession with denuclearisation”.

Separately, South Korea’s military reported that North Korea fired several artillery rounds off its western coast on Tuesday. Analysts believe the activity is part of routine winter military drills.

Tensions between the two Koreas have remained high. Last year, Kim declared an end to North Korea’s long-standing policy of peaceful unification and ordered the constitution to be revised to designate South Korea as a permanent enemy.

With PTI inputs