Kim Jong Un re-appointed leader of North Korea's ruling party

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - SEOUL —North Korea's ruling Workers' Party re-elected Kim Jong Un as general secretary at a party congress meeting on Sunday, state media reported.

In a report published on Monday, KCNA news agency credited Kim with raising the prestige of the country, placing it globally on a solid footing to pursue its revolutionary crusade and hardening the military "into an elite and powerful army."

Under his leadership, "the war deterrence of the country with the nuclear forces as its pivot has been radically improved," KCNA said in the laudatory report of the fourth day of the congress' proceedings.

The reaffirmation of his authority "amounts to a declaration that Kim Jong Un has ended the regime's ‘crisis‑management mode’ and entered a phase of confident, stable long‑term rule," said Lim Eul-chul, an expert on North Korea at Kyungnam University.

Despite long-standing international sanctions, North Korea has continued to build its nuclear capabilities, regularly testing banned intercontinental missiles. But the secrecy of the regime makes it harder to evaluate how much progress the military has made.

Kim, who took control of the regime after his father's death in 2011, has invested heavily in the nuclear weapons program, turning Pyongyang into a far bigger challenge for the West, and especially the US.

He is expected to announce the next phase of the country's weapons program during the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, which began on 19 February and is now in its fourth day. Before it started, North Korea unveiled what it said was a range of nuclear-capable rocket launchers.

The congress has been held once every five years in the last decade.

The meetings are considered to be the most important political event and provide insight into where the country's priorities lie, from foreign policy to its nuclear ambitions.

While Kim has remained at the top of North Korean leadership, the party congress' presidium, or executive committee, has been reshuffled since the last meeting in 2021. More than half of its 39 members have been replaced, according to state media.

In his opening speech last week, Kim vowed to boost the country's economy and people's standard of living, which he described as "heavy and urgent historic tasks".

All eyes are on whether Kim's daughter, Ju Ae, will make an appearance at the congress.

Earlier this month, South Korea's spy agency said that Kim had chosen Ju Ae as his heir. Believed to be 13 years old, she has become an increasingly prominent figure at official events, inspecting missiles and attending Beijing's military parade with her father.

That parade was the first time that the leaders of North Korea, China and Russia had stood together, sending a message of solidarity to the US and its allies.

Chinese president Xi Jinping called Kim to congratulate him on his re-appointment on Monday, saying he would work with Kim to "write a new chapter in the China-North Korea friendship", Chinese state media reported.

Beijing has long been Pyongyang's most significant ally as its largest trade partner and source of aid.

But at the same time, China is wary of Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, which could destabilize the region, and its growing ties with Vladimir Putin's Russia. — Agencies