Kim Jong-un Prepares to Receive World’s Communists for North Korea’s 70th Anniversary

This undated picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)
STR/AFP/Getty Images

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will seek to project a new image of economic prosperity and greater international diplomacy during the country’s 70th-anniversary celebrations on Sunday, according to reports.

Some of the guests attending this weekend’s celebrations include Li Zhanshu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, the Chairwoman of the Russian Federation Council Valentina Matvienko, Cuba’s first vice-president of the Council of State Salvador Antonio Valdes Mesa, and a government delegation led by the Dominican Republic’s Minister of Government Jose Miguel Mejia.

Despite the presence of representatives from some of the world’s major powers, the only head of state attending the celebrations is from Mauritania, something the regime has blamed on the United States.

“The U.S. is forcing other countries not to send high-level delegations to the celebrations of the 70th founding anniversary of the DPRK,” the North’s foreign ministry said in a statement last month.

Nevertheless, North Korean state media has described the day as “a celebration of the victor and continuously expand the results of the big economic development march,” while posting photos of all the visiting guests arriving in Pyongyang.

Sunday’s celebration will kick off a month of events and performances that also includes a trade show and other initiatives designed to increase foreign investment and improve tourism in the repressive communist state.

The regime’s focus on economic development comes amid negotiations with the United States and South Korea over the possibility of dismantling the country’s nuclear program, which would likely come in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions that have long crippled the country’s ability to trade freely around the world.

According to estimates from the United Nations, about 40 percent of the population, or more than 10 million people, survive through humanitarian assistance; around 20 percent of children suffer from malnutrition. The regime also maintains an appalling human rights record characterized by slavery, oppression, and starvation, which have reportedly worsened under Kim Jong-un’s leadership.

“It is a day Kim Jong Un should reminisce the past 70 years of the republic, and it is an event where he has the pressure to offer a long-term statecraft vision that looks into more than 10 years that follow,” Hong Min, senior researcher of Korea Institute for National Unification, told Reuters.

“However, it won’t be easy for him this weekend, because he did not really achieve anything ground-breaking after he changed the national policy line to economy-first,” he continued.

Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com.

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