North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during the ruling Workers’ Party Congress in Pyongyang on February 19, 2026. Photo credits: Korea News Service via AP
North Korea’s ruling party has opened a landmark congress, state media said on Friday (Feb 20, 2026), opening a political spectacle to unveil the next step in the country’s nuclear weapons programme.
Leader Kim Jong Un took center stage with a speech to open the Workers’ Party Congress, which will direct the state’s efforts on everything from home building to war planning.
Party elites packed Pyongyang’s cavernous House of Culture for the once-in-five-year event, which is usually overshadowed by an enormous parade showcasing the military’s latest weapons.
Congress offers a rare glimpse into the workings of a nation where even mundane details are shrouded in secrecy — and Mr. Will be closely watched for insights into Kim’s long-term thinking.
Kim said North Korea had overcome its “worst difficulties” since the last congress in 2021 and was now entering a new phase of “optimism and confidence in the future”.
“Today, our party is facing huge and urgent historic tasks to build the economy and raise people’s living standards and transform all areas of state and social life as soon as possible,” he told state media on Thursday (February 20).
He also identified “deep-rooted defeatism” and “immaturity in leadership capacity” that still hampers party work, a sign of retaliatory actions against officials.
Kim has already announced that Congress will draft plans this year to increase North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. It’s been more than eight years since North Korea’s last nuclear test triggered a man-made earthquake beneath the northern Hamyeong Mountains.
Pyongyang’s nuclear scientists have since worked to harness this energy in portable warheads that can be attached to long-range missiles.
North Korea’s economy has been crippled for years under heavy Western sanctions aimed at choking off funding for its nuclear weapons program.
Mr. Kim is likely to boast about progress on the county’s nuclear program and “strengthened ties with China and Russia,” said Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies. AFP.
The ruling dynasty
This is the ninth meeting of the Workers’ Party Congress under Mr. Kim’s decades-long rule in North Korea. The meeting was suspended for decades under Mr Kim’s father, Mr Kim Jong Il, but was revived in 2016.
Mr. Kim Jong Un has spent years cultivating his cult of personality in reclusive North Korea, and the congress will provide another opportunity to demonstrate his absolute grip on power.
Photos released by state media showed senior party officials taking notes in the background as Mr Kim delivered his inaugural speech.
Mr. Analysts scour the photographs to determine which officials were seated closest to Kim and who were relegated to the back row.
According to the Seoul National Intelligence Service, Mr. who emerged as a North Korean heiress. Special attention will be given to the whereabouts of Kim’s teenage daughter Ju Ae.
‘Big Enemy’
The ruling parties of China and Russia – longtime allies of North Korea – sent friendly messages to mark the opening of the congress. Korean Central News Agency.
Mr. Kim appeared alongside China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin at a military parade in Beijing last year — a stunning display of his powerful friends and high profile in world politics.
At the Congress held five years ago, Mr. Kim declared that the United States was his country’s “greatest enemy.”
Interest is high on whether Mr. Kim will use Congress to soften this stance or double down.
US President Donald Trump stepped up his courtship with Mr Kim during a trip to Asia last year, saying he was “100%” ready for a meeting. Mr. Kim has so far largely ignored efforts to restart high-level diplomatic talks.
Published – February 20, 2026 07:28 am IST
