Kim Jong-un called to “intensify the ideological revolution” in North Korea

“The new five-year plan will become a stage for stabilizing and consolidating our economy and achieving its gradual qualitative development,” Kim said in a speech on Monday.

Revalidated on Sunday as general secretary of the Workers’ Party, in a symbolic gesture that consolidates his figure as a leader, the North Korean president added that the main remaining task of the Congress is develop a five-year plan for each of the sectors of the economy.

During the congress, which will last several days, it is expected that the leader Kim reveals next phase of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

“The vital success of a Party Congress depends on how we define our orientation of struggle for the next five years,” he said, before pointing out the urgency of “intensify the ideological revolution” and “transform the people (…) along revolutionary and working-class lines.”

The statements come amid reports of an increase in repression in the hermetic regime.

The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, Elizabeth Salmón, stated in Seoul at the beginning of the month that The overall human rights situation in North Korea has not shown any improvement and, in many cases, it deteriorated.

The human rights organizations Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI), for their part, also denounced serious and systematic violations of human rightssuch as executions and forced labor, in a context of intensified repression against the consumption of foreign content.

HRW pointed out last Friday, coinciding with the start of the North Korean Congress, that Pyongyang has applied “aggressively adopt legislation that penalizes access to foreign information and cultural expression.”

Almost 7,000 people, including delegates and observers, participate in the highest decision-making body of the North Korean regime, whose previous congress in 2021 lasted eight days of sessions and concluded with the determination to strengthen nuclear capabilities.

The Congress will serve to define the roadmap for the regime’s future defense policies and capabilities, and part of the international attention is focused on the posture it will adopt towards Seoul and Washington amid its strengthening military ties with Russia.

Influential North Korean politician Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was promoted within the ruling party structure during the organization’s five-year congress, state media reported Tuesday.

The Central Committee of the Workers’ Party on Monday appointed Kim Yo Jong – until then deputy department director – full department director, announced the Korean Central News Agency KCNA.

Thousands of elite cadres have flocked to the capital, Pyongyang, to the quote that every five years guides the action of the State in all areas, from diplomacy to war planning.

This congress offers a rare glimpse into the political workings of isolated North Korea and is widely seen as a forum for Kim to showcase his firm grip on power.

Kim Yo Jong has long been one of her brother’s closest lieutenants and one of the most influential women in the North Korean regime.

Born in the late 1980s, according to the South Korean government, she is one of three children that Kim’s father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, had with his third known partner, former dancer Ko Yong Hui.

She was educated in Switzerland alongside her brother and quickly rose through the government hierarchy once he inherited power following her father’s death in 2011.

In 2018, he visited South Korea for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, during a period of inter-Korean rapprochement.

Pyongyang also frequently uses his name to issue statements in which North Korea outlines its positions or criticizes South Korea and the United States.

With information from the EFE agency