Historic Meeting in Pyongyang

The experts, spooks, bloggers and journalists have all expressed their opinions about what will be happening at the conference of the Korean  Workers Party [WPK] which opens tomorrow in secretive Pyongyang. The truth is, nobody knows for sure; everybody is guessing. There have been only two previous conferences of the  WPK since North Korea was founded by Kim Il Sung [shown below with his young son Kim Jong Il in this family portrait] at the end of the Second World War and they were convened in 1958 and 1966.

Most of the experts speculate that tomorrow will see Kim Jong Un installed as his sickly father's successor.  While this may happen, my belief is that the main result of this meeting will be economic. I'm betting this is the Deng Xiaoping moment, marking an historic shift to open up North Korea and its economy.

All North Korean Kremlinologists will have their antennae primed for the next forty eight hours. Hopefully, we'll know by the weekend who Kim Jong Un is and what he looks like. He may look strong, but twenty seven is awfully young for a leader in a closed confucian society like North Korea.

China, Japan and the USA must be concerned about future stability on the peninsula if such a young man is pushed forward as the next leader should Kim Jong Il suddenly die in the near future and I suspect this is one of the main reasons China is probably promoting a Dengist opening to the North Korean leadership.

Ironically,  the CIA will also be trying to find the best "Get Well Soon" card for Barack and Hillary to send Kim Jong Il. The last thing the Obama Administration needs is an attack on Uijongbu by hard line militarists
For North Korea watchers this a very exciting week.