North Korea said Wednesday that its ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) plans to hold its party congress late next week, a move expected to reaffirm North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's tighter grip on power.
"The WPK's political bureau has decided to open the seventh party congress in Pyongyang on May 6," the North's Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station said.
It will be the first party congress since October 1980, when the WPK last convened the meeting of the party's highest-level political guidance body.
The party congress is widely expected to serve as a key event that will reveal the North Korean leader's policy direction in his fifth year in power. Kim inherited power following the sudden death of his father Kim Jong-il in late 2011.
Since mid-March, the North has selected representatives to join the upcoming party congress with the North's leader Kim being picked to represent 12 cities and provinces and the military for the upcoming event, indicating he has a tight grip on power. About 3,000 delegates were selected to take part in the congress held in October 1980.
In accordance with the party's rules, the congress will set party lines, and discuss the party's projects and affairs, including the selection of the first secretary of the WPK.
Experts said the congress will be an occasion to reaffirm the leader's commitment to pursuing his signature policy of developing nuclear weapons in tandem with boosting its moribund economy, commonly known as the "byeongjin" policy.
The convention will take place at a time of high tension between the international community and the North. In March, the U.N. Security Council slapped tougher sanctions on North Korea as punishment for its nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year.
North Korea has mobilized ordinary citizens to prepare for the congress under the "70-day campaign of loyalty" and forced them to offer money to authorities, inviting growing discontent from its people, according to a government official here.
There is a high possibility that the North will hold the party congress without high-profile foreign guests as more countries are believed to plan to shun it amid toughened international pressure, a Seoul official added.
A total of 177 delegates from 118 countries, including China and Russia, attended the party congress in 1980, according to Seoul's unification ministry. At the fifth congress in 1970, there were no foreign guests. (Yonhap)