N. Korea′s Kim visits family mausoleum with newly elected party officials after congress

▲ This image, captured from footage of North Korea's state-run TV network on Feb. 26, 2026, shows North Korea holding a military parade at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang the previous day to mark the ninth congress of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

NK leader-party congress

N. Korea's Kim visits family mausoleum with newly elected party officials after congress

SEOUL, Feb. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a mausoleum for his late grandfather and father with newly elected party officials after the country wrapped up a key party congress, state media reported Friday.

Kim visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun the previous day with newly-elected members of the central leadership of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

North Korea concluded the weeklong ninth party congress Wednesday, the first since 2021, where it set new policy goals on diplomacy, defense, the economy and other areas for the next five years.

The KCNA said the members of the party central leadership "solemnly hardened their firm will to fulfill their heavy duty in the responsible journey for brilliantly carrying out the fighting program of the WPK."

In a separate dispatch, the KCNA said Kim held a photo session with participants in the party congress against the background of the April 25 House of Culture, the venue of the party event.

Kim expressed "belief and conviction that all the participants would play a vanguard role in the sacred struggle for the national prosperity and the well-being of the people to carry out the important policy-oriented tasks set forth by the party congress," according to the report.

While highlighting the results of the party congress, Kim appears to aim at eliciting the solidified unity of the new party central leadership and encouraging party officials to achieve policy tasks unveiled at the country's biggest political event in five years.

North Korea, meanwhile, held an art performance and receptions to commemorate the party congress, attended by key senior party officials and delegates to the party event.

At the party congress, Kim left the door open to dialogue with the United States if Washington drops its hostile policy against Pyongyang, but rejected South Korea's conciliatory gestures as "deceptive."

At a military parade held Wednesday night, the North's leader warned North Korea will carry out "terrible retaliatory attacks" against any force committing hostile military acts against the North.

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