North Korea convened a meeting of the Central Committee headquarters to select representatives for the upcoming 9th Party Congress. This move indicates an acceleration in preparations for the imminent party gathering.
The party’s official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, reported that the Central Committee headquarters meeting took place on Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by representatives elected from various organizational assemblies and conferences of the Central Committee, with Cho Yong-won, the party secretary, presiding over the proceedings.
During the meeting, new leadership for the Central Committee headquarters was elected, and members and alternate members were chosen for the Central Committee headquarters.
According to the newspaper, the first plenary meeting of the Central Committee headquarters elected the chief secretary and secretaries of the headquarters party committee and organized the secretariat.
Cho announced the results of the first plenary meeting of the Central Committee headquarters.
The newspaper also reported that representatives elected from various organizational assemblies and conferences participated in the meeting, where they conducted elections for delegates to the 9th Congress and nominated observers.
North Korea decided to convene the 9th Party Congress during a plenary meeting of the Central Committee held last June. In a subsequent December plenary meeting, they announced that important decisions related to the congress were made, but specific agendas and schedules were not disclosed.
Previously, North Korean media reported on January 24 that they had completed grassroots party organization assemblies and city and county party representative meetings. Now, with the finalization of party-level representative selection, it suggests that the congress may be held in the near future.
Typically, after the conclusion of provincial party representative meetings, the process involves reviewing the eligibility of representatives, finalizing the agenda, and examining relevant documents. This is followed by a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee to confirm the schedule for the 9th Party Congress. Given this timeline, it is anticipated that the 9th Congress will likely take place in early February.