North Korea’s ruling elite is preparing for a party meeting to be held once in 5 years

North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un Jong Un and other top officials have gathered to discuss preparations for the ruling party’s first full congress in five years, state media reported on Wednesday. The top-level meeting will set new priorities as the US and South Korea seek to restart talks with North Korea.

Korean Central News Agency It was reported that Kim presided over the plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party on Tuesday. It said participants began discussing unspecified key issues related to the party congress and review of this year’s state policies.

KCNA gave no further details, but observers say the plenary meeting will likely last a few days and set an official agenda for the party congress, which is expected to take place in January or February.

The congress, the top decision-making organ of the Workers’ Party, was revived by Kim in 2016 after a 36-year hiatus. Experts say Kim’s goal is to increase the party’s authority in an effort to strengthen his grip on power.

Outside attention in Congress is focused on whether Kim will respond to US and South Korean efforts to improve ties. North Korea has repeatedly rejected calls from the US and South Korea to resume talks since Kim’s high-level nuclear diplomacy with the president. donald trump The collapse occurred in 2019, but some experts say Kim could return to talks with the US next year.

In an apparent response to Trump’s repeated appeals, Kim suggested in September that the United States could return to talks if North Korea abandoned “its delusional obsession with denuclearization.”

Meanwhile, South Korea’s military said North Korea fired several artillery shells at the North’s western coast on Tuesday. Observers say the artillery launch was likely part of the North Korean military’s winter training.

Last year, Kim announced his country was abandoning its long-term goal of peaceful unification with South Korea and ordered a rewrite of the North’s constitution to label the South as a permanent enemy.