By Kim Young-jin
North Korea said Monday it will convene a rare conference of its ruling Workers’ Party next week as the country prepares to observe the landmark 100 birth anniversary of its late founder Kim Il-sung.
A dispatch from the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the meeting would take place April 11 in Pyongyang.
The conference comes ahead of a controversial long-range rocket launch planned for between April 12 and 16. The launch, which the North claims is to put a satellite into orbit, is seen by many in the international community as cover for a long range missile test.
Both the launch and the party gathering are tied to the anniversary, at which time the North has proclaimed it will emerge as a “strong and powerful state.”
Analysts say North Korea’s “great successor” Kim Jong-un could be named during the conference as general secretary of the ruling party, a key step for him to consolidate power following the death of his father Kim Jong-il in December.
The North has elected the new leader as a delegate to the conference, reflecting the country’s “unanimous will,” the KCNA said.
Though the younger Kim has been named commander-in-chief of the nation’s 1.1 million-strong military, analysts say he still needs posts left vacant by his father to secure full power.
The conference will be held against the backdrop of Pyongyang’s rocket launch, which if carried out would break U.N. Security Council resolutions. Seoul and Washington believe the test would further the North’s efforts to develop a long-range missile to carry a nuclear warhead.
Recent satellite imagery showed the North preparing a launch pad in Dongchang-ri in the country’s northwest, and a crane apparently loading equipment onto the gantry and trucks delivering fuel.
The Stalinist state says it will allow foreign experts and reporters to visit the launch site before observing the lift-off from the General Satellite Control and Command Center in Pyongyang.
The North claimed in 2009 it fired a rocket that put a satellite into orbit. But Seoul and Washington said it failed to do so and that it was meant to further Pyongyang’s weapons program.
The plan has thrown a wrench into momentum to restart negotiations over the North’s nuclear weapons program.
In addition to Seoul and Washington, Tokyo and Moscow have reaffirmed that the launch would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions, while China said it was working to persuade its ally to refrain from the act. Those countries, along with Pyongyang, comprise the six-party talks on denuclearizing the North.
Experts say Kim is being shepherded toward roles such as Workers’ Party general secretary by an entourage of close aides including his aunt Kim Kyong-hui and her powerful husband Jang Song-thaek.