SEOUL, Jan 11 (Yonhap) – North Korea has appointed its leader Kim Jong-un general secretary of the Labor Party at the current congress, the North Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday.
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The appointment took place at the 8th Labor Party Congress in Pyongyang, following a revision of Party rules to restore the secretariat system that was abolished at the 2016 congress, according to the KCNA.
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“The 8th Congress … decides to elevate Kim Jong-un to the high dignity of general secretary of the Labor Party,” the report said.
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The title of secretary general was previously held by the father of the current leader, Kim Jong-il, and the North calls him “the eternal secretary general” of the Party.
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Votes were held on the same day and the North Korean leader’s younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, was not included in the list of alternate members of the Party’s political bureau.
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There is speculation that Kim Yo-jong, who was an alternate politburo member, may have been promoted to a higher position as she appears to have held a prominent role in inter-Korean affairs and other key topics. .
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Jo Yong-won, a high-level Party official who also appeared alongside Kim, became a member of the political bureau presidium, a post held by only five people in North Korea, including Kim.
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Pak Pong-ju, a former member of the presidium, has been excluded from all Party positions, apparently because of his old age.
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North Korea’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui has been demoted from member to alternate member of the Party’s Central Committee amid deadlock in nuclear negotiations with the United States.
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Kim has held three summits with U.S. President Donald Trump, but denuclearization talks have made little progress since their no-deal summit in Hanoi in 2019.
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During a previous session of the current congress, Kim described the United States as “the greatest enemy” of his country, threatening to continue to develop nuclear capabilities, possibly to put pressure on the administration of Joe Biden to come. .
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Jang Kum-chol, head of the United Front department which manages inter-Korean affairs, appears to have been replaced as he was not included in the list of Party department heads.
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Kim Song-nam, the first vice director dealing with China relations, has been promoted to director.
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Experts say the leader of the North should embrace a new, burgeoning leadership style by inheriting the history and tradition of his predecessors.
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“Diplomacy with the United States and economic recovery remain the biggest challenge for North Korea, and without properly resolving these tasks, it will be difficult for Kim to ensure his authority as secretary general,” Lim said. Eun-chul, professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University.
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North Korea is facing the triple whammy of the fallout from the successive typhoons of last summer, the prolonged closure of its borders because of the new coronavirus (Covid-19) and international sanctions against its economy.
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The KCNA said congress would continue with the seventh-day session on Monday. The event may end but it is not clear whether or not the congress will end today as the North has not released a program. The previous congress in 2016 was held for four days.
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