North Korea is expected to convene the 9th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea in early to mid-February, a pivotal political event that will lay out the regime’s governing and military strategy for the next five years.
The congress — the party’s highest decision-making body, held once every five years — is expected to focus on three core agenda items: strengthening nuclear and conventional military capabilities in parallel, institutionalizing the “two hostile states” framework toward South Korea and consolidating Kim’s governing ideology.
Recent North Korean media reports suggest that preparatory procedures are nearing completion. Pyongyang has finalized the selection of party delegates at the grassroots, city, provincial and central levels, signs that only the formal announcement of the congress schedule remains. Observers anticipate that Kim Jong-un, North Korean leader and general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, w
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