(LEAD) N. Korea urges loyalty to leader Kim ahead of children's union congress

▲ Delegates of the Korean Children's Union (KCU) under North Korea's ruling Workers' Party arrive in Pyongyang from across the nation on Dec. 20, 2022, to attend the 9th KCU Congress, in this photo released by the North's Korean Central News Agency. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) N Korea-youth group meeting

(LEAD) N. Korea urges loyalty to leader Kim ahead of children's union congress

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; CORRECTS info on opening of congress; UPDATES with comments from unification ministry in paras 3-4)

SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- North Korea publicly called for loyalty to its leader Kim Jong-un on the occasion of a congress of a major children's group in Pyongyang opening for the first time in five years, according to its state media Monday.

The Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, said the members of the Korean Children's Union (KCU) participating in the 9th Congress received certificates of delegation Sunday. The opening of the congress seems to be imminent given that the certificates have been handed out to the members that arrived in the capital Tuesday.

South Korea's unification ministry said the North appears to be planning to open the congress "later than usual," pointing out that it previously kicked off two to four days after the members' arrival in Pyongyang.

"We expect the congress to open soon, as North Korea reported this morning that the members received their certificates for the 9th Congress," the ministry's spokesperson Cho Joong-hoon told a regular press briefing.

In another article, the paper called on children to show their loyalty to Kim, saying, "No other children in the world enjoy happiness" as much as the KCU and continue the "bloodline of the revolution."

The KCU, formed in 1946, is a youth organization composed of children aged around 7 to 13. Its members are known for wearing red neckerchiefs.

The latest KCU meeting marks the third of its kind since Kim took power in 2011. Kim took part in both the 7th Congress in 2013 and the 8th in June 2017.

Whether Kim's publicly revealed daughter, presumed to be his second child Ju-ae, will attend the event is one of the major points of attention, according to observers.

The North revealed Kim's daughter for the first time last month as it test-fired a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile on Nov. 18.

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