Kim Jong-un seeks to cement power at rare congress

Journalists watch a television broadcast showing a speech by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the media room in Pyongyang. (Photo: AFP)

North Korea on Friday staged its most important political show for a generation, aimed at cementing the absolute rule of leader Kim Jong-un and underlining the sanctions-hit country’s “prestige” as a nuclear power.

The first ruling party congress for nearly 40 years drew thousands of selected delegates from across the country to Pyongyang for what, in theory at least, was a gathering of North Korea’s top decision-making body.

It also drew around 130 foreign journalists who were invited to cover the event, but not allowed inside the venue, restricted instead to watching from a spot 200 metres away in the light drizzle falling on the capital.

And state television provided no live coverage, devoting its programming to archive material, films and patriotic concerts.

The 33-year-old Kim, who was not even born when the last Workers’ Party Congress was held in 1980, was to deliver a keynote address that will be scrutinised for any sign of a substantive policy shift, especially on the economic front.

Analysts will also be watching for personnel changes as Kim looks to bring in a younger generation of leaders hand-picked for their loyalty.

State media previewed the event by hailing the North’s most recent nuclear test in January as evidence of its “greatness and prestige as a nuclear power state.”

The 1980 event was staged to crown Kim’s father Kim Jong-Il as heir apparent to his own father, the North’s founding leader Kim Il-Sung.

The 2016 version was being held inside the imposing April 25 Palace, whose stone facade was adorned with huge portraits of the two late leaders, along with giant red and gold ruling party banners. While the agenda — and even the duration — of the congress remains unknown, its main objective is to confirm Kim Jong-un’s status as legitimate inheritor of the Kim family’s dynastic rule which spans almost seven decades.

It may also enshrine as formal party doctrine Kim’s “byungjin” policy of pursuing nuclear weapons in tandem with economic development.

Notably absent was any Chinese representation — a possible reflection of the increasingly strained ties between the North and its sole major ally.