Kim arrives at congress amid crisis

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived to applause on Wednesday as the nation’s first full ruling party congress in five years continued. In an opening speech at the congress that began on Tuesday, Kim admitted that his economic development plans had failed and that the developmental goals set at a 2016 congress “were not met in almost all areas to a great extent,” according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

The Workers' Party Congress, one of the North’s biggest propaganda spectacles, is meant to help Kim show a worried nation that he’s firmly in control and to boost unity behind his leadership in the face of COVID-19 and other growing economic challenges. But some observers are skeptical that the stage-managed congress will find any fundamental solutions to North Korea’s difficulties, many of which stem from decades of economic mismanagement and Kim’s headlong pursuit of expensive nuclear weapons,

Kim, 36, is holding the congress, which is expected to last a few days, amid what may be the toughest challenge of his nine-year rule and what he has called “multiple crises.” North Korea is one of the poorest countries in Asia, and the already besieged economy is being hammered by pandemic-related border closures with China, the North’s major economic lifeline, the fallout from a series of natural disasters last summer and persistent U.S.-led sanctions over the nuclear program. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office later in January, will likely maintain the sanctions and avoid any direct meeting with Kim until North Korea takes significant steps toward denuclearization.  

(Image Credits: AP)