North Korea to hold major meeting around Kim Jong Un’s 10-year anniversary

Plenum will set 2022 state plans, as DPRK leader says economy ‘stable’ at Politburo meeting on Wednesday 

Colin Zwirko December 2, 2021

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Image: Rodong Sinmun, Dec. 2, 2021 | Kim Jong Un presides over the Fifth Political Bureau Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, held at the headquarters building of the Party Central Committee on Dec. 1

North Korea will hold a major party meeting called a plenum in “late December,” state media announced Thursday, falling around the official 10-year anniversary of Kim Jong Un coming to power.

The DPRK leader reportedly said at a Politburo meeting on Wednesday that the economy is currently being “stably managed,” according to the party-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, and suggested that the upcoming plenum will review this year’s economic activity and set plans for 2022. 

The plenum could last for several days as in recent years, and the party could announce further titles or celebrations for Kim to mark his first decade as ruler.

Kim took over as leader on Dec. 17, 2011 after his father, Kim Jong Il, died of a heart attack. The Politburo at the time officially made Kim Jong Un the Supreme Commander of the armed forces on Dec. 30.

The upcoming plenum may also serve as the forum for Kim to give a speech detailing domestic and foreign policy updates for the coming year, such as those pertaining to inter-Korean relations and stalled denuclearization talks with the U.S.

Kim traditionally delivered this in an informal “New Year Address” on Jan. 1 each year, but since 2020 he’s delivered it in formal party meetings in December or January. 

A state TV report on the meeting showed Kim Tok Hun and other officials arriving late in Mercedes and Lexus luxury vehicles, and clocks in and outside the meeting room showed that it started just before 11 p.m. on Wednesday night | Images: KCTV, Dec. 2, 2021

The state media report on Wednesday’s Politburo meeting was relatively brief, but included some positive assessments from Kim on state affairs in 2021 despite what he called “difficulties that still stand in the way of the economic development of the country.”

“It is very inspiring that affirmative changes have been made in all fields of the state affairs including politics, the economy, culture and national defense,” he reportedly said, continuing that “great successes [were] achieved in agriculture and construction.”

“Next year is an important year when we should wage a struggle as great as this year” toward carrying out the second year of the current five-year plan, he added.

The upcoming plenum will be the fourth held this year since the January Party Congress. North Korea announced a “food crisis” at the third plenum, which lasted for four days in June. 

However, the report on Wednesday’s “fifth” politburo meeting of this year revealed that another such meeting was recently held in secret. The third politburo meeting took place on Sept. 2, but the ruling party never disclosed information publicly about a fourth one in the intervening months.

Martin Weiser, an independent researcher focusing on North Korean politics, told NK News on Thursday that a possible occasion for the secret politburo meeting could have been held before the late-Sept. Supreme People’s Assembly session to approve new personnel appointments.

Kim’s appearance in state media on Thursday ends another extended break from public activities. The North Korean leader had made just one public appearance during the previous 50 days.

Edited by Bryan Betts. Updated on Dec. 3 at 12:46 KST to include images from state TV.