North Korea holds rare political event in decades

North Korea is holding its most important political event in decades where leader Kim Jong-un will cement his status and set out his vision.

Thousands of delegates are meeting for a choreographed show of support being seen as an unofficial coronation.

The BBC reports that in Pyongyang Kim Jong-un is inside the hall, with guards lined up outside the venue.

Its run-up saw attempts at missile launches and speculation that the North will conduct a fifth nuclear test.

It is the seventh congress of North Korea's Worker's Party and the first since 1980. 

It is being held inside the April 25 House of Culture, now covered in vast red and gold banners and massive images of the current leader's father and grandfather.

But the event is said to be shrouded in secrecy.

The meeting will elect a new central committee, which appoints a Politburo and other key political roles, and many say loyalists to the current leader will be rewarded with high profile posts.

Who he chooses will be watched carefully. In 2013 Kim Jong-un had his uncle executed for "acts of treachery" and there have followed many reports of purges of high profile figures in the establishment.

Some experts have said that Mr Kim's sister Kim Yo-jong, with whom he attended school in Switzerland, is tipped for promotion.

Many observers will scrutinise announcements carefully to evaluate the North's commitment to a planned economy and hints at economic reform, but the congress is also being seen as the public stage for Kim Jong-un to define his leadership for the years to come.


SOURCE: BBC News