Seoul: North Korea may stipulate leader Kim Jong-un's guiding ideology in the ruling Workers' Party of Korea's charter at next year's party congress, while also promoting him to the highest rank of grand marshal, an expert predicted Tuesday. Yang Moo-jin, a senior professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, offered the assessment during a forum on the security outlook for the Korean Peninsula.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the North Korean ruling party is expected to hold its ninth congress early next year to set the country's key policy stance, the first such meeting since the eighth congress in 2021. Yang said the party event may stipulate the "Kim Jong-un revolutionary ideas" in the party's charter and confer the highest reverence title, "grand marshal of the republic," on Kim.

Kim Jong-un revolutionary ideas generally refer to the leader's guiding ideology, centered on nationalism and the wellbeing of the people, which has been promoted to the public to drum up loyalty and glorify his regime. Both Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, the two late former North Korean leaders, were conferred the title of grand marshal of the republic, with Kim Jong-il receiving it posthumously. Kim Jong-un's current military title is reported to be that of marshal.

"Under the framework of the ninth party congress, North Korea may concentrate on fostering 'Kim Jong-un's Choson,'" Yang said, using the historic name of Korea that the North uses to refer to itself.