Kim Reelected to Top Post of North Korea’s Ruling Party

The report of the party congress, where Kim is expected to outline his main political and military goals for the next five years, suggests he will double down on stepping up a military nuclear program already equipped with missiles that could threaten Asian US allies and the American mainland.

The congress, which opened last Thursday, comes as Kim has become increasingly assertive in regional policy after aggressively expanding his nuclear arsenal and forging closer ties with Russia through joint war efforts in Ukraine, deepening the standoff with Washington and Seoul.

Analysts say Kim will likely use the meeting to unveil new military goals, including strengthening conventional forces and integrating them with nuclear capabilities, as well as reemphasizing his campaign for economic “self-reliance” through mass mobilization following gradual post-pandemic gains fueled by a recovery in trade with China and arms exports to Russia.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said on the fourth day of meetings on Sunday that Kim was re-elected as the party’s general secretary with the “unwavering will and unanimous desire” of thousands of delegates.

According to party rules, the general secretary, who will serve as the party’s top representative and leader, is elected at the congress held by Kim every five years since 2016. Kim, 42, held the party’s top job throughout his rule, but his title changed from first secretary to chairman at the congress in 2016 and then to general secretary at the congress in 2021.

The party said in a statement that Kim had created an army capable of meeting “any threat of attack” and “any war” by building nuclear forces, and noted that his leadership had “reliably guaranteed” the country’s future and “increased the pride and self-esteem” of North Koreans.

KCNA said the congress made revisions to party rules at Sunday’s meeting but did not immediately provide details. Experts had predicted that Kim would use the congress to solidify his hardline stance against South Korea and possibly rewrite party rules to define inter-Korean relations as between two “enemy” states.

State media has so far not cited any comments by Kim or other senior leaders at the congress that directly touched on relations with Washington and Seoul.

North Korea has suspended all meaningful diplomacy with the United States and South Korea since a 2019 summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump collapsed over disagreements over swapping sanctions relief for steps to end Kim’s nuclear and missile program.

Kim’s government has rejected offers of dialogue from Trump since the American president began his second term and has urged Washington to abandon its demand for North Korea’s denuclearization as a precondition for talks. Inter-Korean relations worsened further in 2024 when Kim abandoned the North’s long-standing goal of peaceful reunification and declared the war-torn South a permanent enemy.