North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is focused on launching his "top-speed dash to glorious victory" campaign in the unusual 7th Party Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) which will be happening in May. Kim is pushing his signature ruling policy boasting nuclear power and economic development despite the most recent United Nations (U.N.) sanctions.
According to Reuters, Kim's "top-speed dash to glorious victory" campaign was promoted almost daily by its official media. Propaganda posters with words written "Comrade, have you implemented your 70-day battle plan for today?" were scattered all over the capital of Pyongyang. Cho Min, a former vice president of the South Korean government-run Korea Institute for National Unification and an expert on North's leadership claimed that the congress will highlight Kim's signature "byongjin policy."
"He (Kim Jong Un) doesn't look willing to back down on nuclear armament and the congress is the place for maximum impact if he wants to declare it to the world," Cho said, adding another nuclear test is "worryingly" likely in the run-up to the meeting.
As SBS reported, Byongjin pertains to a simultaneous push to North Korea's economic development and nuclear weapon capabilities. Byongjin is a follow up to his father's longtime ruler Kim Jong Il's "military first" policy and a mixed ideology of his grandfather's Juche that blends Marxism and extreme nationalism. Since Kim's administration in 2011, his government is marked with turmoil because there's no economic and political achievements that he can claim.
"He's tried other things such as (Workers' Party) Political Bureau meetings, dismissals, demotions, etc., and it hasn't had the effect he wanted," said Michael Madden, an expert on the North Korean leadership. "The Party Congress is the most effective way to re-set North Korean political culture."
The 7th party congress that will introduce the "top-speed dash to glorious victory" campaign has a purpose of strengthening Kim's regime amidst the economic crisis, NK News reported. Kim is acting defiant despite the U.N. sanction. He launched a nuclear test in January and followed by a long range rocket launch in February. After the UN Security Council passed sanctions directing on North Korea's mineral exports, banks, and cargo vessels, the North Korean president showed his tough side by urging his people to get ready for the effect of the penalties and urged them to be economically self-reliant. He also ordered his army to get ready for launching nuclear warheads anytime.
For Kim's "top-speed dash to glorious victory" campaign that focuses only on nuclear prestige, the country's isolation from the international scene will only cause deeper damage and less chances to revive its thriving economy.
