SEOUL, Feb 17 (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un marked the completion of 10,000 new houses in Pyongyang ahead of a major party congress, state-run Korean Central News Agency said on Tuesday.
Kim has been inspecting construction sites and touting progress over the past few months, and North Korea is set to convene the ruling Workers’ Party’s ninth congress in February, the country’s largest political gathering, to review performance, set new policy goals and potentially bring about a leadership change.
On Monday, Kim Jong Un presided over a completion ceremony for 10,000 houses in Pyongyang’s Hwaseong district, achieving the goal of building 50,000 new houses in the capital area set five years ago during the eighth National Assembly, KCNA reported.
“Based on the results of transformation… during the Eighth National Congress, the Party’s Ninth Congress will set more ambitious goals for restoration and creation,” Kim said, according to KCNA.
Meanwhile, KCNA said delegates and spectators attending the upcoming party congress arrived in Pyongyang on Monday.
In the past two congresses, in 2016 and 2021, the Congress began three to four days after delegates arrived in Pyongyang, said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Lisa Shoemaker)