DPR Korea to elect new leaders

Much speculation has been buzzing around the Western media today about an announcement made by DPR Korean media sources that the ruling Workers Party of Korea (WPK) will convene in October. Details about in what capacity this convening will be are sketchy, but if it is so that the WPK can elect a new leader, then this meeting could be of the Central Committee plenum, which incidentally hasn't met since 1993. It's unlikely that it will be a Party congress, despite the Party Act regulating for such meetings every 5 years. The last congress of the WPK has held in 1980 (after an absence of 10 years) when the current DPR Korean supreme commander Kim Jong-il was appointed successor to his father Kim Il-sung without being superficially legitimised with the expected 100% approval vote by delegates.

If this meeting does produce a new generation of leaders, then most likely as speculated Kim Jong-il's youngest known son Kim Jong-un will finally be elevated to an official position. Going through party lines would be a more fitting way to launch Kim Jong-un's political career, though this would signify a reverse in trend in the political running of the country. As DPR Korea's official ideology is Juche-Songun (Self-Reliance and 'Army-First'), the Army and its soldiers are seen as the vanguard of the revolution and not the Party and its members, which was the case in most other Communist countries past and present. Seeing that the military essentially holds all power in DPR Korea, the Workers Party has had very little relevance, hence the lack of need for Party congresses and central committee plenums. However, the young Kim Jong-un, believed to be 28 years old, has no military experience, which was no barrier for his father eventually becoming supreme commander of the Korean People's Army. Nevertheless, someone so young leading a 1 million-strong armed forces that holds all power would never be accepted, especially when there are underlying social values respecting age which, in themselves, are not solely Confucian and deeply penetrate not just DPR Korean but most Asian societies. This would then explain why the long neglected party apparatus may be revived as it would better accomodate the youth and inexperience of the new leader, who already is rumoured to be honoured as the 'brilliant comrade'. This was the way that his father progressed. So we just have to wait until October to see whether the North Korean populace will be called out to wave pink and red flowers on the street to greet the delegates and Central Committe members to do their duty.