N.K. uses party congress to declare nukes its priority: report

SEOUL (Yonhap) — North Korea used its latest party congress as a venue to show its will to give priority to developing nuclear weapons before it moves to bolster its fragile economy, a report showed Monday.

North Korea concluded a four-day run of the congress by the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) last Monday, where North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was elected as chairman of the ruling party.

Kim Kap-sik, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), said in a report that the North formally announced that its priority will be developing a nuclear arsenal at the key gathering.

At the party event, the first to be held in 36 years, the North’s leader made it clear that he will “permanently” defend the pursuit of his signature policy of developing nuclear weapons in tandem with boosting the country’s moribund economy, commonly known as the “byeongjin” policy.

He also called his country a “responsible nuclear weapons state,” adding that Pyongyang will not use its nuclear arms first unless its sovereignty is threatened by other countries with nuclear bombs.

Seoul said that his message is nothing more than an expression that the communist country has no intention of giving up its nuclear program, adding that it will not recognize North Korea as a nuclear-armed state.

A report by Hong Min, another KINU research fellow, cast a similar view.

“The North seemed to set nuclear weapons as key words for the party congress,” Hong said. “The party event was used as a venue to formally declare that the country’s rule will be based on its nuclear arsenal.”