North Korea opens major party congress with Kim emphasizing economy

North Korea has opened its most important political event, where leader Kim Jong Un is expected to map out his domestic and foreign policy agenda for the next five years and further entrench his family’s authoritarian rule

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea has opened its most important political event in which leader Kim Jong Un is expected to map out his domestic and foreign policy agenda for the next five years and further entrench his family’s authoritarian rule.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Friday that the ruling Workers’ Party Congress opened in Pyongyang the previous day with Kim delivering a speech emphasizing the economy.

Kim said the country has made significant progress since the 2021 congress, held during the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, citing economic gains and a firmer regional footing that he said marked an “irreversible” strengthening of the state’s status.

“This created favorable conditions and circumstances for giving a greater spur to our socialist construction,” he said. “Our party is faced with heavy and urgent historic tasks of boosting economic construction and the people’s standard of living and transforming all realms of state and social life as early as possible.”

State media didn’t immediately mention any comments by Kim that directly addressed his standoffs with the United States and South Korea or his nuclear weapons program.