NKorea calls first congress in decades

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

In a significant break from recent history, North Korea announced plans Friday to hold a ruling Workers' Party congress next year -- for the first time since 1980.

That last congress was noteworthy for being the occasion when late former leader Kim Jong-il was revealed as the first successor to Kim Il-sung's de facto throne.

But with party politics reduced to a formality in North Korea's military-first dictatorship, Kim appeared to do away with the pretense of convening a congress and instead handed power to the National Defense Commission.

Analysts have been caught off guard by the news that under the reclusive state's latest leader, Kim Jong-un, there will be a return to his grandfather's way of doing things.

Some might view this as an attempt by Kim to appear more open to a political process, while others may see it as a loosening of the military's grip.

The explanation from North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency was that Pyongyang's policymakers are "faced with the heavy yet sacred task to bring about a great upswing in the building of a thriving socialist nation".

Certainly the North is faced with numerous challenges -- ranging from economic sanctions imposed for its nuclear ambitions to widespread food shortages worsened by this year's drought.

Whatever the reasons behind the planned congress next May, a possible change in direction through a political reshuffle would be significantly better received on the world stage than the brutal purges that Pyongyang is notorious for.

A massive military parade in the North Korean capital earlier this month suggests that the current leader is not about to move away from his father's focus on defense, but onlookers will be keenly anticipating next year's developments -- including in South Korea.

"The government is closely watching the North's decision. North Korea seemed to make such a decision by taking into account its internal affairs and foreign relations," the South's Unification ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee told reporters.