North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was re-elected to the top post of the ruling Workers’ Party, with delegates crediting him for bolstering the nation’s nuclear arsenal and strengthening its regional standing, state media reported yesterday.
The report from the Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party, a major propaganda spectacle where Kim is expected to outline his political and military goals for the next five years, suggests he would double down on accelerating a nuclear arsenal already equipped with missiles capable of threatening the US’ Asian allies and the US mainland.
The party also released a new roster for its powerful Central Committee that confirmed a generational shift in Kim’s leadership circle, with aging military chiefs and the 76-year-old head of Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp parliament among dozens replaced in the 138-member body.
Photo: AFP/ KCNA via KNS
The congress, which began on Thursday, comes as Kim grows increasingly assertive in regional politics, following an aggressive expansion of his nuclear arsenal and closer ties with Russia forged through joint war efforts in Ukraine, which have deepened his standoffs with Washington and Seoul.
Kim has also pursued stronger ties with China, traveling to Beijing in September last year and having his first summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in six years.
Analysts say Kim will likely use the meeting to unveil new military goals, including strengthening conventional forces and integrating them with nuclear capabilities, while reemphasizing a campaign for economic “self-reliance” through mass mobilization, following gradual post-pandemic gains fueled by rebounding trade with China and arms exports to Russia.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim was re-elected as the party’s general secretary with the “unshakable will and unanimous desire” of thousands of delegates on the fourth day of meetings on Sunday.
Under party rules, the congress, which Kim has held every five years since 2016, elects the general secretary to serve as the party’s top representative and leader. Kim, 42, has held the party’s top post throughout his rule, though the title changed from first secretary to chairman at the congress in 2016 and then to general secretary at the congress in 2021.
The party said in a statement that by building up nuclear forces, Kim has created a military capable of handling “any threat of aggression” and “any form of war,” and credited his leadership with “reliably guaranteeing” the country’s future and “boosting the pride and self-esteem” of North Koreans.
It also praised Kim’s recent foreign policy, which it said raised national prestige. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said Xi congratulated Kim on his re-election.
Yoon Min-ho, a spokesperson at South Korea’s Unification Ministry, described Kim’s re-election as a predictable move to further burnish his leadership, adding that Seoul would closely watch further messages from the congress.
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