In Pyongyang, North Korea has begun its most consequential political gathering, an event that typically signals where leader Kim Jong Un intends to steer the country at home and abroad over the next five years. The Workers’ Party Congress, the state’s premier political meeting, opened the previous day, according to the country’s Korean Central News Agency.
State media said Kim used his opening address to put the economy front and center. The speech framed the congress as a moment to consolidate progress and set a new course, with Kim presenting the meeting as both a review of the past five years and a launch point for the next phase of governance.
Looking back to the 2021 congress, held as the COVID-19 pandemic shook the country, Kim claimed North Korea has since achieved meaningful headway. He pointed to economic improvements and what he described as a strengthened position in the region, calling the state’s rising status “irreversible.”
Promises of progress, and the work still ahead
Kim cast the alleged gains as momentum for the country’s broader development, arguing they created better conditions to accelerate what he called socialist construction. He described the party as facing pressing historical responsibilities, focusing on economic building, raising living standards, and reshaping state and social life as quickly as possible.
Notably, early state coverage did not highlight remarks that directly addressed North Korea’s confrontations with the United States and South Korea or detailed discussion of its nuclear weapons program. The omission stood out given how central those issues have become to regional security and North Korea’s recent diplomacy.
Even so, the congress arrives after an extended lead-up in which Kim showcased military capabilities and visited major industrial and housing sites, presenting them as evidence of achievement. The gathering is expected to last several days, with Kim saying roughly 5,000 delegates are taking part, including 224 members from the party’s central leadership.
External alignments and the uneasy regional backdrop
Outside analysts have long struggled to gauge North Korea’s true economic health because of its tight information controls. Still, experts cited in the reporting have suggested the economy may be slowly recovering, likely helped by post-pandemic trade resuming with China and by weapons exports to Russia.
Kim has also used Russia’s war in Ukraine to deepen cooperation with Moscow, supplying large quantities of troops and military equipment that support Russia’s campaign, potentially in return for economic help and military technologies. In parallel, he has pursued closer ties with China, the North’s traditional ally and economic lifeline, including travel to Beijing last year for a World War II-related event and a first summit in six years with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Security and succession questions hover over the meeting as well. Experts expect Kim to use the congress to outline new economic targets while also advancing plans to further expand a nuclear-armed force that already includes systems aimed at U.S. allies in Asia and long-range missiles that could potentially reach the U.S. mainland; South Korea’s intelligence agency has also said it is watching for indications Kim could elevate his teenage daughter, believed to be Kim Ju Ae and about 13, as a future successor.
Diplomacy with Washington remains stalled since 2019, after a summit between Kim and then-President Donald Trump collapsed amid disagreements over U.S.-led sanctions tied to North Korea’s nuclear program. Since Trump began his second term, Kim’s government has turned away U.S. overtures for talks, insisting Washington first drop its denuclearization demands as a condition for dialogue.
Relations with South Korea have likewise deteriorated, with most cooperation and communication halted. In recent years, Kim has abandoned the North’s long-stated goal of peaceful reunification and instead promoted a hostile “two-state” framing for the Korean Peninsula, a position experts say he may seek to further formalize in the Workers’ Party’s constitution during the congress.
