Kim reelected to top post of North Korea’s ruling party as it hails his nuclear buildup

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was reelected to the top post of the ruling Workers’ Party, with delegates crediting him for bolstering the country’s nuclear arsenal and strengthening its regional standing, state media reported Monday.

The report from the party congress, a major propaganda spectacle where Kim is expected to outline his political and military goals for the next five years, suggests he will double down on accelerating a nuclear arsenal already equipped with missiles capable of threatening Asian U.S. allies and the American mainland.

The party also released a new roster for its powerful Central Committee that confirmed a generational shift in Kim’s leadership circle, with aging military chiefs and the 76-year-old head of Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp parliament among dozens replaced in the 138-member body.

The congress, which began last Thursday, comes as Kim grows increasingly assertive in regional politics, following an aggressive expansion of his nuclear arsenal and closer ties with Russia forged through joint war efforts in Ukraine, which have deepened his standoffs with Washington and Seoul. Kim has also pursued stronger ties with China, traveling to Beijing last September and having his first summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in six years.

Analysts say Kim will likely use the meeting to unveil new military goals, including strengthening conventional forces and integrating them with nuclear capabilities, while reemphasizing a campaign for economic “self-reliance” through mass mobilization, following gradual post-pandemic gains fueled by rebounding trade with China and arms exports to Russia.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim was reelected as the party’s general secretary with the “unshakable will and unanimous desire” of thousands of delegates on the fourth day of meetings Sunday.

Under party rules, the congress, which Kim has held every five years since 2016, elects the general secretary to serve as the party’s top representative and leader. Kim, 42, has held the party’s top post throughout his rule, though the title changed from first secretary to chairman at the congress in 2016 and then to general secretary at the congress in 2021.

The party said in a statement that by building up nuclear forces, Kim has created a military capable of handling “any threat of aggression” and “any form of war,” and credited his leadership with “reliably guaranteeing” the country’s future and “boosting the pride and self-esteem” of North Koreans.

It also praised Kim’s recent foreign policy, which it said raised national prestige. China's state-run Xinhua news agency said Xi congratulated Kim on his reelection.

KCNA said the congress adopted revisions to party rules during Sunday’s meeting but did not immediately provide details. Experts had anticipated that Kim would use the congress to entrench his hard-line stance toward South Korea and possibly rewrite party rules to codify his characterization of inter-Korean relations as between two “hostile” states.

State media so far haven’t mentioned any comments by Kim or other senior leaders at the congress directly addressing relations with Washington and Seoul.

Yoon Min Ho, a spokesperson at South Korea’s Unification Ministry, described Kim’s reelection as a predictable move to further burnish his leadership and that Seoul will closely watch further messages from the congress.

The most notable change to the new Central Committee list was the exclusion of Choe Ryong Hae, chairman of the standing committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly, who during an earlier part of Kim’s rule was seen as the second most powerful individual in Pyongyang. Also left out were military marshals Pak Jong Chon and Ri Pyong Chol, who had rose in the leadership ranks while Kim sped up his nuclear development over the past decade.

Yoon also noted the removal of senior officials who handled inter-Korean affairs, including Kim Yong Chol and Ri Son Gwon, who served key roles in carrying out Kim Jong Un’s diplomacy with then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in and President Donald Trump in 2018 and 2019.

North Korea has suspended all meaningful diplomacy with the United States and South Korea since the collapse of a 2019 summit between Kim Jong Un and Trump over disagreements about exchange sanctions relief for steps to wind down Kim’s nuclear and missile program.

Kim’s government has rejected dialogue offers from Trump since the American president began his second term, urging Washington to drop its demand for North Korea’s denuclearization as a precondition for talks. Inter-Korean relations further deteriorated in 2024 when Kim abandoned the North’s long-standing goal of peaceful reunification and declared the war-divided South a permanent enemy.

This photo provided Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, center, attends the ruling Workers’ Party Congress in Pyongyang, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

This photo provided Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un attends the ruling Workers’ Party Congress in Pyongyang, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

This photo provided Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, center, claps hands as he was re-elected to the top post of the ruling Workers’ Party, during the party's Congress in Pyongyang, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

This photo provided Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, center, claps hands as he was re-elected to the top post of the ruling Workers’ Party, during the party's Congress in Pyongyang, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates suspended all trade with Iran on Wednesday after it said it had come under renewed fire from the country — a move that will further isolate the Islamic Republic, which is suffering under American sanctions and a blockade.

Incoming ballistic missile fire triggered nationwide warnings Tuesday night for UAE residents to seek shelter, the first time in weeks such an alarm had sounded.

Early in the conflict, the UAE regularly came under intense fire from Iran, and most trade between the countries, which had once been important trading partners, ground to a halt. In late June, as hostilities eased, at least some maritime trade resumed, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported. But it was not clear how much trade there was more recently.

Following the news that two ballistic missiles had been fired toward the UAE, both of which splashed down in the Persian Gulf late Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said that while it remained committed to “dialogue, cooperation and regional integration,” it had decided to impose the punitive measures.

“In light of regional escalations that undermine regional and international peace and security, all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran have been halted until further notice,” the ministry said in a statement.

The UAE’s Defense Ministry said assessments showed that the missiles targeted maritime traffic. It was not clear whether they directly targeted Emirati ships or the country’s territorial waters.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei denied that Iran had launched any missiles toward the UAE.

As part of Iran's efforts to maintain a stranglehold over the Strait of Hormuz, it has regularly attacked ships attempting to use the waterway, including four tankers owned by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned ADNOC oil and gas company over the past two weeks. None of the attacks caused any injuries, but they brought harsh condemnation from the UAE and others in the region, including Kuwait and Bahrain.

Since the beginning of the conflict nearly 20 ADNOC vessels have been attacked by missiles and drones in the Strait of Hormuz, killing one person and wounding another 20.

Iran's ability to control traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of traded oil and natural gas passed during peacetime, has proved its biggest strategic advantage in the war. While the U.S. and Israel — which launched the war on Feb. 28 — have given various aims, including toppling Tehran's government and ending its nuclear program, the conflict has devolved into a fight over the strait.

During the war, Iran has launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and thousands of drones in strikes that Tehran said were targeting American assets but hit buildings in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Dubai’s commercial airport, ports and energy infrastructure.

Iran has accused the UAE and other U.S. allies in the Gulf of facilitating American military attacks on Iran, and Iran's Chief of Staff Gen. Ali Abdollahi on Wednesday issued a new warning to “countries on the southern shores of the Persian Gulf.”

“Any assistance or facilitation provided to the aggressor U.S. military amounts to participation alongside U.S. military forces,” he said in a statement distributed by Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency.

Before the war, the UAE was one of Iran's biggest trade partners, providing more than 30% of its imports valued at some $21 billion, according to the World Trade Organization's latest figures from 2024. It was the destination for nearly 13% of its exports worth some $7 billion.

The Emirati announcement comes as the U.S. prepares to apply new economic pressure on Iran.

Speaking last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the measures would be a combination of economic isolation and the continued American blockade of Iranian ports.

The economic pressure follows the intense bombing campaign that targeted industrial and civilian infrastructure in addition to military targets. Already the International Monetary Fund forecasts inflation of nearly 70% this year in Iran and an economic contraction of 5.4%. Meanwhile, its rial currency has hit record lows.

People spend time at a beach as commercial vessels are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

Oil residue lines the shore near fishing boats on Qeshm Island, Iran, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, amid ongoing wartime attacks on vessels and infrastructure in and around the Strait of Hormuz, though the spill's source has not been independently determined.(Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)