A major party or military meeting appears to be underway in Pyongyang this week, according to NK Pro analysis of satellite imagery that shows dozens of buses filling the parking lot of one of Pyongyang’s largest event venues for multiple days.

The event may be a “special workshop” for party officials that state media said would be held this week, though reports have yet to emerge about the start of the meeting, its proceedings or venue.

Planet Labs satellite imagery shows roughly the same number of buses parked in a similar arrangement in front of the April 25 House of Culture on July 2, 3 and 5, while other vehicles appear to change positions around the building. Imagery for July 4 was not available.

In the past, when large-scale meetings were held at the April 25 House of Culture for multiple days without daily reports in state media, the mysterious events have often turned out to be related to military affairs.

A similar situation occurred twice in the last year, where the venue’s parking lot appeared full over multiple days but state media only revealed details days after the conclusion of a workshop for Korean People’s Army (KPA) commanders and political officers last July and a conference of military educators in December.

At the same time as the July 2021 KPA event, state media announced participants arrived for a veterans conference in advance but did not reveal that the military meeting was held until three days after its conclusion, meaning a similar situation involving concurrent party and military meetings is also possible this week.

State media belatedly reported on other KPA meetings at the same venue in Aug. 2016 and at the Pyongyang Indoor Stadium in March 2019.

On the contrary, state media typically releases separate status reports for each day of multi-day party or political organization meetings. 

Authorities may have decided to apply a more secretive approach to reporting on party meetings as well if the event ongoing at the April 25 House of Culture in recent days is the “special workshop for officials in the field of guidance over party life,” which the Rodong Sinmun reported on July 2 would be held this week.

“Relevant officials from all provincial, city and county Party committees arrived in Pyongyang to attend the workshop,” the report said, while satellite imagery showed planes in front of the Pyongyang International Airport terminal that day. “The special workshop will serve as an important opportunity to more thoroughly establish the Party Central Committee’s unified leadership system across the Party and society,” it added.

There have also been instances where state media never revealed why the April 25 House of Culture parking lot appeared full of buses in Planet Labs imagery over multiple days, such as in 2017 from Nov. 8-9 and 18-19 and in 2018 between Dec. 8 and 10.

The apparent large-scale gathering this week, likely of thousands of people, is another show of confidence in efforts to suppress a nationwide outbreak of COVID-19 that reportedly began in April. Authorities lifted strict lockdown orders for Pyongyang at the end of May, and regular activity has appeared to return to the streets of numerous other areas around the country in recent weeks.

The event comes after DPRK leader Kim Jong Un led a three-day Central Military Commission (CMC) meeting late last month to discuss new operations aimed at South Korea, and as Pyongyang has rehabilitated nuclear testing tunnels possibly in preparation for its first such test since 2017. 

Edited by Bryan Betts.

Updated on July 6 at 6:35 p.m. KST to include details from state media about a large party meeting scheduled to be held this week.