North Korea's Kim marks completion of Pyongyang housing project as key party congress nears

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un marked the completion of 10,000 new houses built in Pyongyang, state media KCNA said on Tuesday, as the country is about to hold a key party congress.

Kim has been touring construction sites and touting progress for the last few months as North Korea is set to convene the Ninth Congress of the ruling Workers' Party in February, the country's biggest political gathering that reviews performance, sets new policy goals and can bring leadership change.

On Monday, Kim oversaw the completion ceremony of 10,000 houses in Hwasong District, Pyongyang, which achieved the goal of 50,000 new houses in the metropolitan area set during the Eighth Congress five years ago, according to KCNA.

"Based on the transformational achievements... during the Eighth period, the Ninth Congress of the party will set a grander goal of restoration and creation," Kim said, according to KCNA.

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Kim's daughter Ju Ae was shown at her father's side at the completion ceremony, hugging and congratulating the residents of the new housing. There has been increasing speculation among analysts and from South Korea's spy agency that the teenager is being groomed to succeed as leader.

Meanwhile, KCNA said the representatives and audience set to participate in the upcoming party congress arrived in Pyongyang on Monday.

In the past two instances in 2016 and 2021, the Congress began three to four days after representatives arrived in Pyongyang, according to Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.