03/05/2026
Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party of North Korea
By Senghun Woo
March 5, 2026
According to North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the 9th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea (KWP) opened in Pyongyang on February 19. The congress was convened about five years and one month after the 8th Congress and marks the third party congress held since Kim Jong-un came to power. This year’s congress appears to have focused more on changes within the leadership echelon than on economic development. In his opening speech, Kim Jong-Un stated that when the 8th Congress was convened in 2021, the country faced severe conditions due to “hostile forces, embargoes, and sanctions,” but that the situation has now fundamentally changed.
Senghun Woo is a research intern at HRNK and a senior at Incheon National University in South Korea, where he is double majoring in International Relations and Logistics. He is currently an exchange student at American University in Washington, DC. After completing his military service in Somalia, he became increasingly interested in North Korean human rights issues. His primary areas of interest include political prison camps and the everyday lives of North Korean people, with a focus on how human rights conditions shape social and political outcomes. At HRNK, he supports the team’s monitoring and compilation of North Korea-related developments, including work on the Daily Press as well as logistical tasks essential to the organization’s social media.
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By Senghun Woo, HRNK Research Intern Edited by Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK President and CEO Focus on Upper Echelon Changes According to North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the 9th Congress...
