By Jack Kim and Kyu-seok Shim
SEOUL, Feb 23 (Reuters) – North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party re-elected Kim Jong Un as general secretary at a party congress meeting on Sunday, state media said, a move seen as underlining his absolute grip on power and greater confidence over domestic stability.
In a report published on Monday, KCNA state news agency credited Kim with raising the prestige of the country, placing it globally on a solid footing to pursue its revolutionary crusade and hardening the military “into an elite and powerful army.”
Under his leadership, “the war deterrence of the country with the nuclear forces as its pivot has been radically improved,” KCNA said in the laudatory report of the fourth day of the congress’ proceedings.
The reaffirmation of his authority “amounts to a declaration that Kim Jong Un has ended the regime’s ‘crisis‑management mode’ and entered a phase of confident, stable long‑term rule,” Lim Eul-chul, an expert on North Korea at Kyungnam University, said.
The delegates also elected members of the party Central Committee and adopted revisions to the party rules, KCNA said. It did not provide details of the changes to the party charter, but some senior officials appeared to be dropped from the committee.
Former Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong, Supreme People’s Assembly Standing Committee Chairman Choe Ryong Hae, and a top party military official, Ri Pyong Chol, were among those who were sidelined in a likely change of the old guard, analysts said.
There has been no sign of Kim’s teenage daughter, known as Ju Ae, attending the conference so far, amid speculation she is being groomed to succeed her father as leader. The ninth iteration of the party congress, normally held every five years for several days, opened on Thursday with 5,000 delegates and is being watched by South Korea for any revelation of new domestic and external policy directions.
There have been no signs of significant policy initiatives so far, the sessions focusing on having overcome an economic crisis and progress made under the Party’s leadership.
(Reporting by Jack Kim; editing by Diane Craft and Stephen Coates)
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