[Editorial] N.K. congress

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un clearly showed what was on his mind through the ruling Workers’ Party congress: He wanted to crown himself as the supreme leader of the country and use nuclear bombs to symbolize his ascension.

As it turned out, the congress, which opened Friday in Pyongyang, did not result in any major decisions or policy blueprints befitting a high-profile political event held for the first time in 36 years.

It is apparent that by holding an event that even his father skipped because of the lack of corresponding achievements during his 17-year reign, the young ruler wanted to send the message at home and abroad that now, five years after his father’s death, he is in full charge of the country. The coronation culminated on the final day of the congress Tuesday, when he was accorded the chairmanship of the Workers’ Party, a title once held by his grandfather and founder of the communist country, Kim Il-sung.

Obviously, a man who often resorts to a reign of terror to strengthen his grip on power -- like brutal executions and purges of former members of his inner circle -- needed such a coronation ceremony.    

And the 33-year-old dictator highlighted the progress made in the development of nuclear arms and ballistic missiles as key achievements justifying his formal ascension to the dynastic throne that has ruled the communist country since 1945.

Kim made it clear that he would never give up his country’s nuclear arsenal, which, he believes, will buttress his regime in the face of growing discontent among the impoverished public and mounting pressure from the international community.

He said that the simultaneous pursuit of nuclear power and economic development under his rule would not be temporary but “permanent.”

He also said that North Korea would not use nuclear bombs first unless it comes under nuclear threats from hostile forces.

Nevertheless, Kim’s comments at the congress were dotted with self-contradictions and hypocrisies. 

Kim said that North Korea will faithfully fulfill its obligation for nonproliferation and strive for global denuclearization. We know that North Korea should be the last country to talk about nonproliferation.

The trumpeting of its usual propaganda rhetoric was another feature of the four-day congress. Kim said that his country was ready to “improve and normalize relations” with countries that are hostile toward it.

Kim repeated the North’s time-old proposal to hold negotiations for a peace treaty with the U.S. and the withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Korea. These, like the proposal for military talks with South Korea, lacked sincerity.

Contrary to Kim’s hope that the congress would solidify his image as the undisputed leader of the country, it resulted in a PR fiasco. Unlike the 1980 event, few prominent foreign delegates attended the congress, obviously because of the toughest-ever international sanctions imposed on the North over its latest nuclear and missile provocations.

To make matters worse, the North’s mistreatment of the foreign press further tainted its already negative international image. North Korea invited about 120 foreign journalists, but did not allow them inside the venue of the congress until Tuesday.

Only about 30 of the foreign journalists entered the April 25 House of Culture on Tuesday. The rigidity of the North Korean authorities also resulted in the temporary detention and expulsion of three journalists from BBC.

It is unfortunate, for Kim, that the event he and his lieutenants wanted to use as a coronation for him as the supreme leader and to show off the country as a nuclear state only deepened the negative image of the country and its isolation.