[정치][취재N팩트] Will North Korea hold the party today?… schedule is still’silent’

[앵커]

The news of the 8th Party Congress, which North Korea announced that it will open in early January, has not yet been heard.

Some have raised the possibility of starting on the 1st or 2nd, but North Korea, which also omitted this year’s New Year’s speech, has not yet disclosed a specific schedule of the party conference.

We will connect reporters to learn more. Reporter Hwang Hye-kyung!

I wonder why the 8th party convention in North Korea is still veiled. Is it not open yet?

[기자]

Yes, North Korea doesn’t mention that it started on the first weekday of the new year as well as the party conference.

Government media such as the Chosun Central News Agency and the Nodong Shinmun expressed their expectation that this year will be a significant and historic year for the 8th Party Congress, but they did not disclose any specific schedule.

Earlier, on the 31st of last month, North Korea announced that representatives to attend the party conference gathered in Pyongyang in late December, and that the opening of the party conference is imminent.

For this reason, the possibility of the party conference being held on January 1st or 2nd was raised, but it is presumed that the party conference was not started due to the North Korean practice of reporting facts on the day after the event.

If the first weekday of this year started today, it seems that there will be reports about it through the state media in the morning of tomorrow.

However, even on the anniversary of the founding of the party in October last year, we cannot rule out the possibility that a related report will be released tonight due to the tendency of Chairman Kim Jong-un, who showed a breakthrough by holding a fever ceremony at midnight and broadcasting that evening without notice.

During the 7th Party Congress in May 2016 in North Korea, a recorded broadcast was sent out at 10:30 pm on the opening day.

The Ministry of Unification and the intelligence authorities are also closely watching related trends.

[앵커]

Then, what is the reason you are paying attention to the 8th party convention in North Korea?

[기자]

Yes, because the 8th Party Congress in North Korea is held under unusual circumstances in many ways.

Chairman Kim Jong-un said he would hold the 8th Party Congress in August of last year and January of this year to present a new five-year plan for national economic development.

Considering that the last 7th Congress was held in May 2016, it will be held less than five years ago.

At the time of the 7th Party Congress, North Korea came up with a five-year strategy for national economic development, but Chairman Kim also admitted that the results were very poor.

Therefore, North Korea seems to have decided on the January Party Congress with a willingness to end this situation quickly and start with a new blueprint for the new year.

After North Korea decided to hold the party convention, it convened several related meetings, including the Political Bureau meeting, to discuss the agenda.

At this party conference, attention is being paid to what kind of economic lines and foreign policies North Korea will come up with.

In particular, North Korea has not yet commented on the president-elect of the US President Biden.

This is a very unusual situation in light of the precedents of responding to the results of the US presidential election in three or four days, whether it was expected or criticized.

At this conference, attention is focused on what message Chairman Kim Jong-un will bring to the United States or Biden-elect, and what North Korea’s strategy and initiatives toward the United States will be.

In addition, there is a possibility that Chairman Kim Jong-un, who mentioned last year’s ‘love South Korean compatriots’ at the party conference last year, will once again come up with a message of appeasement toward South Korea.

It is attracting attention whether a breakthrough can be made in inter-Korean relations, which have been tightly blocked by the bombing of the inter-Korean liaison office and the attack of public officials in the West Sea.

[앵커]

Today, tomorrow seems to be the key, but what is the schedule?

[기자]

The 7th Party Congress ended with a large-scale rally on the fifth day after the meeting lasted for four days.

The government has also diagnosed that this year, due to the unusual situation of corona, the size and schedule of participation in the party may also be reduced.

I am interested in what scale it will be as it will have an impact on the crowd competitions and fervorces that are expected to be held after the party convention is over.

Moreover, although North Korea has not officially made it yet, experts predict that the party conference will be finished before that, since the 8th is the birthday of Chairman Kim Jong-un.

At this conference, it seems that Chairman Kim’s younger brother, Kim Yeo-jeong, will be promoted to the first vice-president of the party, as well as a part of the transfer of personnel to senior positions in the party.

Some have raised the possibility of North Korea’s further raising the status of Chairman Kim Jong-un to formalize the Kim Jong-un era in earnest.

This is YTN Hwang Hye-kyung.

[저작권자(c) YTN & YTN plus 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]