Rodong Says 3rd Party Conference in Sept. “Will Shine as a Notable Event”

An editorial by KWP-daily Rodong Sinmun said that the 3rd Workers’ Party Conference (or Meeting of Party Representatives) “will shine as a notable event in the history of the sacred Workers’ Party.”  While some observers anticipate the appearance of Kim Jong Un, or the election of his political supporters to the Party’s power institutions (such as the Political Bureau), the Party Conference’s most pressing business will be the resuscitation of institutions that have flatlined in the KJI era.

Yonhap reports:

North Korea stressed on Tuesday the historical importance of its upcoming meeting of core ruling party delegates, urging the younger generation of party members to be as loyal to the leadership as their predecessors.

In September, the communist state will hold its first meeting of senior Workers’ Party delegates in 44 years, a move that observers say may be aimed at paving the ground for leader Kim Jong-il to transfer his power to his third son, Jong-un.

Kim, 68, made his first public appearance in a 1980 convention, considered to be more authoritative, and sealed himself as the successor to his father, Kim Il-sung, who founded the North and died in 1994.

In an editorial seen here on Tuesday, the Rodong Sinmun, the party’s daily, heaped praise on party members who died loyal to the founder and called on new members to “follow suit.”

The paper, considered to be Pyongyang’s main mouthpiece, also described the September meeting as one that will “shine as a notable event in the history of the holy Workers’ Party.”

Late last month, the paper said that the party will expand its role and function through the meeting, stressing the importance of the central party organ that had once served as a venue for Kim Jong-il to rise up the power ladder when he was young.