North Korea sets party congress date amid N-test fears

SEOUL — North Korea on Wednesday formally set May 6 for the opening of a landmark ruling party congress — the first in nearly four decades and an event many fear will be preceded by a fifth nuclear test. Anticipation over the congress, last held in 1980, has been mounting since the North signaled its intention to hold the gathering way back in October. Kim Jong-Un is expected to use the event to cement his position as supreme leader and take credit for pushing his country’s nuclear weapons program to new heights. No details have been provided of the agenda, but it will be scrutinized for any key policy changes or reshuffles among the elite. The actual starting date had been a closely guarded secret before Wednesday’s announcement by the politburo of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. In a statement carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency, the politburo said the congress — only the seventh in the party’s history — would open on May 6 but did not specify how long it would last. The 1980 congress took four days, and South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it expected next week’s gathering to go on for “four or five days.” There has been growing speculation that North Korea may carry out a fresh nuclear test just ahead of the event as a display of national pride and strength. On Tuesday South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said the North was understood to have “completed preparations” for a test, and could press the button at any time. Such a move would constitute a dramatic act of defiance in the face of tough UN sanctions imposed on Pyongyang after its most recent nuclear test in January. Some analysts have suggested that, by carrying out a fifth test so soon after the fourth, the North might hope to avoid a heavy package of additional sanctions — but Park insisted that the international community’s response would be swift and severe. — AFP