North Korean Labor Party Congress… The best decision-making body holding the’direction key’

The 8th Labor Party Congress, which North Korea opened in Pyongyang on the 5th, is the official top decision-making body.

In North Korea under the leadership of the Labor Party, the’direction key’ for all state administration, including the establishment of national routes, strategies, and policies, is determined through the party conference.

Article 11 of the North Korean Constitution clearly stated that “all activities are carried out under the leadership of the Labor Party”, making it clear that state organizations such as the Supreme People’s Assembly, which is the South National Assembly, and the Cabinet, which is an administrative body, are under the leadership and control of the Labor Party.

North Korea reported that it decided to hold the 8th party conference at the 7th 6th party plenary meeting in August last year, and that it would hold the’Labor Party Central Committee’s business generalization’, revision of the party rules, and elections to the party’s central leadership as an agenda.

The plenary meeting’s decision was “analyzed and summed up on the experiences and lessons learned in the past five years of work toward building a socialist power, and presented the correct lines of struggle, strategies, and tactical policies based on the new demands of the development of our revolution and the situation created. Purpose to do it.”

In particular, Chairman Kim Jong-un is expected to present foreign policies such as the United States and South Korea for the next five years and a new five-year plan for national economic development through the project summary report.

Chairman Kim said in the opening remarks of the 8th Party Congress, “I am convinced that this Congress will be a stepping point to make a drastic leap forward in the struggle for strengthening national power and improving people’s lives,”

Previously, North Korea proposed a plan to establish the’Democratic Federal Republic of Korea’ at the 6th Party Congress in 1980, and stipulated the’Byeongjin Route for Economic and Nuclear Forces’ at the 7th Party Congress in 2016.

Accordingly, attention is paid to what kind of line and policy will be declared toward the US administration, newly launched at the end of this month, and whether frozen inter-Korean relations can lead to a melting mood.

In addition, in this event, leaders from the leadership, such as the reorganization of the Labor Party and the change of generations, will be made to lead the Kim Jong-un regime for the next five years.

Among them, attention is focused on whether or not the first vice-president Kim Yeo-jeong-dang, the younger sister of Chairman Kim Jong-un and a candidate for the Political Bureau, will be promoted to be given a position appropriate to the practical second-person role that he recently revealed.

The first vice-president Kim stepped up to the opening ceremony on this day and stood shoulder to shoulder with other vice-chairmen and managers of the Labor Party.

The 8th Party Congress attracts attention as it is the second time since Chairman Kim Jong-un took office and was held in 4 years and 8 months.

The party’s conventions are held every five years, and the second short period after the second party conference was held three years after the inaugural conference in 1945.

It was held relatively regularly in the early days of President Kim Il-sung’s presidency, but the 5th (1970) convention was held 9 years after the 4th (1961) party congress, and the leader of the National Defense Commission officially debuted as Kim’s successor. The 6th (1980) conference also had a 10-year gap.

Moreover, it took 36 years from the 6th Congress to the 7th Party Congress since it was never held during the Kim Jong-il regime.

However, Chairman Kim Jong-un virtually’resurrected’ the party congress by holding the 7th conference in the 5th year of power and convening the 8th conference within 5 years.

At the party plenary meeting in August last year, a guideline that “convenes the party convention regularly, establishes the routes, strategies, and tactical measures leading to the development of the times and revolutions, and maintains and reinforces the party’s leadership institutions that can guarantee its execution.” He made it clear that he would make the party convention regular.

The regularization of the party congress can be seen as reflecting the intention of Chairman Kim to not only raise the status of the Labor Party, but also to rule as a system rather than a’personal play’ of the supreme leader.

North Korea is expected to hold the Supreme People’s Assembly at the end of this month to approve the route and policies of the 8th Party Congress and follow up with personnel from state organizations.

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