North Korea’s leadership will convene a party congress later this month, state media announced on Sunday, marking the first major gathering of the ruling party since 2021.
The decision was made on Saturday at a meeting of the top leaders of the country’s Workers Party of Korea (WPK), including Kim Jong Un, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
“The Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee adopted with unanimous approval a decision on opening the Ninth Congress of the WPK in Pyongyang, the capital of the revolution, in late February 2026,” KCNA said.
The last party congress—the eighth—was held in January 2021, when Kim was named General Secretary of the party, a title previously held only by his father, Kim Jong Il, in a move analysts said reinforced his authority.
The congress is the ruling party’s top gathering, serving as a grand political set piece that consolidates the regime’s control and can provide a platform for policy announcements or elite personnel changes.
Since 2021, North Korea has continued to expand its nuclear arsenal, repeatedly test-launching intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in defiance of UN Security Council bans.
Pyongyang has also strengthened ties with Moscow amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, with North Korean soldiers reportedly sent to fight alongside Russian forces. In 2024, the two countries signed a treaty including a mutual defence clause.
