Many readers will have heard about the 7th Workers’ Party Congress, convoked in early May of 2016 to elect a new Central Committee and to auger in the five year economic strategy (2016-2020).

This was the first Party Congress since 1980, when Kim Jong Il was publicly proclaimed Kim Il Sung’s successor – he’d actually been designated as such as far back as 1974. 

Party bylaws used to state that Party Congresses were supposed to be held every five years, but these requirements were ignored during the Korean War – likely to avoid the threat of a