North Korea holding first party congress in decades

Pyongyang.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

For the first time since 1980, North Korea is holding a ruling party congress, and leader Kim Jong Un is expected to declare his "Byongjin" policy, a push toward economic and nuclear development.

Thousands of delegates are attending the seventh party congress in Pyongyang, and a new central committee will be elected; experts say Kim loyalists will receive the most high-profile positions. On Friday morning, Kim's personal guard surrounded the hall where the congress is being held, proving that he is inside, the BBC reports. Foreign journalists have been granted permission to cover the event, but they have handlers and are not allowed to speak with citizens.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.