North Korea News Podcast by NK News - More Party Congress preparations, and Iran’s new envoy in North Korea

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

NK News Lead Correspondent Shreyas Reddy joins this week’s episode to discuss the formal preparations for the upcoming Ninth Party Congress, including meetings where the Central Committee has elected delegates and observers, and what signs to watch for as Pyongyang moves closer to announcing an official schedule.  He also talks about recent diplomatic activity in […]

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strategic decisions, visit careerrisk.com slash solutions today. Hello listeners and welcome to the NK News podcast. I'm your host, Jacko's Wetsuit, and today it is Monday the 2nd of February, 2026, and I'm joined here in the studio by Shreyas Ready. Shrais, welcome. Thank you for having me, Jaco. So we are here. It's the start of February.

We still haven't had that pesky Congress yet, the five-yearly Congress. That's coming up soon. But we're going to start off with some things that are happening in the lead-up to the Congress, because of course, that's generally what, a review of the last five-year plan and a, you know, where the presentation of the next five-year plan had been this big project, the 20 by 10 project, what is it, or what has it been? Yes, so the 2010 project wasn't actually something that started directly at the last Congress. It started a couple of years ago where Kim Jong-un essentially unveiled this flagship initiative

to create essentially 200 new factories and industrial units across the country over the course of a decade. 20 each year, over 10 years, equals 200. Yes. That's the 20 by 10. And so the idea was basically about developing the regional economy across North Korea rather than just being restricted to a select few sites where they already had development for years. At least that was the goal. Right.

It was obviously down to the broader economic plan that was laid out at the last Congress. But at the time, initially, the emphasis was on Pyongyang and housing projects nationwide. Right. And that creates a very lopsided. You know, Pyongyang is one country and the rest of North Korea is another. And this is kind of in a way, an attempt to redress that imbalance, right? Or at least that was the purpose. And in the first year, we definitely saw at least science of North Korea trying to

develop projects in other areas. But then some of those projects seem to have run over. And last year, North Korea, went for what appeared to be a different tactic, which was essentially pick towns and regions where there already were existing military bases or factories or even other projects that had already begun. And essentially what that means is those areas

already have some resources in clay that you can use to develop new projects. And now North Korea has effectively begun the third year of its project of this 2010 initiative with a series of new projects that seem to be following essentially the same lines instead of... Pick a spot where something's already happening and then build something bigger and then kind of grandfather of the existing projects into this new project. Exactly. And so Kim Jong-un and North Korea seem to have begun construction in at least seven towns across the country last week. So kicking off the third year of the project. But quite

prominently, many of these were again where there are existing military facilities and other sources already in place. I like the article that our colleague Colin wrote mentions about the leisure complexes that each of these 20 by 10 towns will have. And it's at each leisure complex appears to house a library, a few shops, a supermarket, an outdoor flea market, hmm, interesting, a small gym with a few machines, a hair salon, a one or two room theater, and other basic amenities. So it's a lot more than just, you know, sort of housing and industrial stuff. Yes, I mean, it is essentially going to be an all-round complex that caters to many different needs of the local workers as well as others in the region. Now, has Kim recently been to inspect some of these? So he

essentially these ones have just begun. So the focus was more on inaugurating the projects, at least rather just over the weekend they've reported, or rather actually today it was reported that Kim Jong-un has officially opened the country's largest greenhouse farm, which is at Shinigiu on the border with China. Oh, that is big. This is a project that has been in the works for a while, and it's not just the biggest in North Korea by far, a larger footprint than all its previous mega greenhouses, but one of the largest in the world. Good God. Okay, that's interesting. I can't wait to see some photographs of that one.

I see also in the article that Colin wrote that it was reported last Friday, so sometime last week, Kim Jong-un attended a groundbreaking ceremony for new factories in, I think it's Un-Yul County, if I'm not mistaken, southwest of the capital. So he is doing a lot of traveling around, visiting these sites where projects are going on, and either inaugurating them as their beginning or inspecting them at the end of their construction process. Yes, and this is something that they really want to wrap up before the Congress, or, I mean, at least get the new projects going and make sure all the previous ones are wrapped up, which at the moment they seem to be headed toward that before they really get up for the party Congress. But of course, there are also some other things that they need to do before the Congress begins. and so they've got the ball rolling on the official formalities.

So, for example, last week the Central Committee of the ruling workers party held a conference in which it elected delegates and observers to attend the ninth party Congress. And something else that they need to do is essentially elect provincial party representatives, which will then perhaps eventually lead to state media publishing or announcing an official schedule for the nine-party Congress. Now, they may not give specific dates, but at least it'll give us a sense of when it'll happen. And it will be interesting to see if there are any foreign media around the Congress or even in, goodness, in the conference, I imagine if there were, it would be exclusively Russian, perhaps some Chinese, maybe a Cuban journalist, something

like that. Yeah, it's an interesting question because I think a lot of people remember in 2016, early in our field, remember 2016 when international journalists got to attend the Congress. Including folks from NK News. Yes, but the fact is it's also hard to really set a precedent because the last party Congress was in 2021 during the pandemic. No outsiders could come in. The 2016 Congress featured journalists, but it didn't feature party delegations from other countries. And essentially the 2016 one was the first party Congress in 36 years. And also, if I'm not mistaken, foreign journalists were taken to a site in the city and sort of pointed out a building across the road and said, there's the Congress. That's as close as you're getting. I don't think they actually got into the room.

Yeah, I think that would be a bit of a stretch. But I think when we're drawing points of comparison, one is this has only happened once in, forget just Kim Jong-un-Rae, even Kim Jong-il during his time, there were no party congresses. So the fact is we only have one case in the last few decades to go on to say there were journalists. And right now, North Korea has nowhere near that open. Then they haven't allowed foreign journalists and for other events. Maybe they'll allow Russian, perhaps some Chinese journalists. There are some outlets on the ground where they already got staff. At the moment, it doesn't seem likely that they're going to allow anyone in. We will see.

All right. Next story, North Korea has welcomed a new ambassador to Pyongyang. Indeed. A new Iranian ambassador has assumed his post last week. He officially presented his credentials to Cheryonghe, the head of North Korea's parliament. And so the new ambassador, Abbas Talibifah, he comes with some history in dealing with East Asia matters. He was previously director of the Iranian Foreign Ministries, the Second East Asia and Oceania Department. And he's also served as ambassador to Brunei and Georgia. I believe at one point, many, many years ago, he also researched China or at least seems to have some publications related to that. So

he's certainly well versed in the region. Okay, but no evidence of his ever having worked at the Iranian embassy here in Seoul. No, that does not appear to be the case. But still, it is a significant appointment because the last time Iran had a resident ambassador in Pyongyang was in 2020, when and the previous ambassador left during the pandemic amid a broader exodus of diplomats. Right. So Iran was one of those embassies that didn't have a full staff, let alone an ambassador, for five years basically, from late 2020 until very early this year. So this is a big comeback. As I hinted at before, Iran maintains embassies in both Korean capitals, both in Seoul and in Pyongyang.

It's certainly an interesting time for Iran to be sending an ambassador to North Korea, given the social upheaval that's going on in Iran right now? Definitely. I mean, lots going on for the Iranian government to deal with. Admittedly, disappointment originally took place a few months ago. So when perhaps that turmoil was just beginning to swell. That said, the questions, again, about why now? Why is Iran doing this after such a long gap?

The best answer we can really find is, it's honestly something that would have been on the cards for a while. It would have happened soon or later. And these two countries have had relations for a while, even if in recent months, they no longer seem to be each other's, among each other's top priorities. Both countries are currently more focused on their own domestic matters.

Iran perhaps understandably also concerned about US interests in the region. But they're also both cooperating closely with Russia. Russia in its war on Ukraine, yes. Iran with drones and North Korea with other artillery and men. Yeah. Now, speaking on that note, I saw in this story, this article which you wrote, has a photograph of the new ambassador, Abbas Talebir, next to what appears to be a man in a military uniform. Could he be the new Iranian defense attach to Pyongyang? Quite likely, I mean, so North Korea has, so Iran has sent military attaches to Pyongyang in the past.

and they've been quite active. Some of them have even risen to become senior ministers in Iran's government in the past. So it is an important post as far as Iran is concerned and highlights the close relations between the two countries. We don't know anything really about the military attach at this point, if that is indeed his role. But yeah, I can imagine that they wouldn't be sending a man in military uniform if he's just there to be twiddling his thumbs. I imagine he would be doing some liaising with the North Korean military. and talking about what they can do together. Of course, another possibility is he may also just be the translator,

but he certainly was wearing uniform, so. Yes, time will tell. All right, for our last story, we've got a couple of minutes. Let's talk about a review of the state media for last week that our colleague Sung-on-jong wrote for us. North Korea accelerates party Congress prep as January draws to a close. We've talked a little bit about the Congress already. And there's a lot of stuff in the review here,

but I want to bring up something interesting from a cultural. perspective, the Moranbong band, which used to be a big thing in Korea in the early days of Kim Jong-un, and was formerly headed up by, formerly headed up by Hjong-Wal, who was a close friend of, a confidant of Kim Jong-un, has some role in the government. I understand that Moran-Bong band is really disappearing from the page of history. Yeah, it's an interesting mission. We've been watching for a few years now, and I think many people were surprised how quickly just faded out of prominence

and in some ways it has been a curious change because North Korea used to promote the Moran Bung Band very actively but perhaps one explanation is simply North Korea's changing approach to both outside and inside

and domestic culture when it comes down to it the Moran Bung Band had often been promoted as North Korea's version of a K-pop group of a K-pop girl group And that's all, it was very evident in their stylings, the way they performed.

It had perhaps more outside influences. It was a more Western-style pop group than many of North Korea's other acts. Like the Bochun Bo, Electronic Ensemble. And so perhaps, as we've seen in the last few years, North Korea has sought to crack down on all external culture and anything that even seems to bear inspiration from South Korea. pop or Western culture. And it seems that quite likely Moran Bongban might have just fallen victim to that purge.

Okay. So not for ideological reasons, just styles change, trans change? I mean, I think it might be a bit of both. It is when we're talking about this emphasis on keeping outside culture out, it is about, a lot of it has been about what the state sees as influences that corrupt North Korea. youth and take them away from North Korea's socialist values. So this is also about entrenching North Korea's way of operations, what the North Korean state says. Even though Moran Bung Band was very much the state's own propaganda tool at one point.

And lastly, I saw that the KCNA reported that the Indian Embassy in Pyongyang held a reception at the Tehrong Gang Diplomatic Club last week on Monday the 26th of January to commemorate It's Republic Day, at which there were North Korean foreign ministry officials and members of the diplomatic corps in attendance. Wouldn't you love to be a fly in the war at an event like that? Oh, well, it would certainly be interesting. I mean, I think I was at the corresponding event in Seoul, but yeah, it would be certainly interesting to compare just how different the two events are. No doubt, yeah. All right, well, thank you, Shrey's ready, for coming on the NK News podcast this week. Thank you.

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Our thanks go to Brian Betts and David Choi for facilitating this episode and to our post-recording producer Alana Hill, who cuts out all the extraneous noises, awkward silences, bodily functions, and fixes the audio levels. you for listening and listen again next time.