North Korea claimed on Saturday to have achieved 'remarkable' success in implementing major policies over the past five years, as it holds a key party congress expected to unveil future directions. With leader Kim Jong-un in attendance, the second day featured a policy review session, where the event will outline priorities in diplomacy, defense, the economy, and other areas.
North Korea's ninth congress of the Workers' Party of Korea opened in Pyongyang on February 20, 2026. According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), leader Kim Jong-un, in his opening speech, highlighted economic achievements over the past five years and assessed the country's status as having been firmly consolidated as an 'irreversible' one. He stated that the national economy had overcome difficulties and laid the foundation for progress, creating favorable conditions for socialist construction.
On the second day, February 21, a policy review session took place with Kim in attendance. KCNA reported that key policy plans had been 'successfully' carried out 'in all fields' over the past five years, describing it as a period of 'great transformation.' It emphasized that 'the remarkable successes, experience and lessons... serve as a springboard for making leaps forward in guaranteeing greater changes and successes.'
The congress, the largest political event since 2021, is set to outline major policy directions for the next five years. Around 5,000 party representatives attended, including a 39-member presidium featuring Kim, Premier Pak Thae-song, party secretary Jo Yong-won, and Kim Yo-jong, Kim's powerful sister. There was no mention of Kim's daughter, Ju-ae.
Amid expressions of willingness by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump to resume diplomacy with Pyongyang, policymakers in Seoul and Washington are closely watching the event, North Korea's highest decision-making body. However, the North did not disclose details on its policies toward South Korea or the United States. Kim has declared inter-Korean ties as those between 'two states hostile to each other,' vowing no reconciliation or unification, and has remained unresponsive to dialogue overtures from Lee and Trump.
