Kim gets the party started, but will economic reforms follow?

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has opened the door of his isolated economy a crack to market reforms. Now, as he calls the first congress of the ruling party since 1980, he faces a choice.

Since becoming supreme commander with the death of his father in late 2011, Kim has built his grip on power with purges of senior officials and other provocative actions, including two nuclear tests. But as North Korea loses most of its cold war benefactors and struggles from a series of droughts and famines, he’s also tiptoed into the realm of private enterprise.

Ordering the Workers’ Party to hold a full congress for the first time under his leadership gives him the chance to set out his agenda as well as promote or demote officials to shore up his inner circle. What is said and done in Pyongyang during the gathering may indicate how serious he is about economic reform and whether that may be trumped by his desire to preserve control.

“He’s implemented some reforms that have paid off and he now feels he has to recalibrate the country’s principle ideology to explain those changes,” said Koh Yu-hwan, professor of North Korean studies at Seoul’s Dongguk University.

“Drastically changing course won’t be easy because no matter how good change is, you don’t want to make it if it threatens your third-generation dynasty.”

The meeting highlights Kim’s increased diplomatic isolation, and will provide a peek at his standing domestically. When his grandfather Kim Il-sung hosted the last congress, North Korea had a better functioning economy and the event attracted officials from more than 100 nations.