North Korea’s ruling Korean Workers’ Party has convened its 8th Party Congress , a rare gathering in which all eyes will be on Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un to see the path on which he intends to steer the nation forward. The last five years were marked by both unprecedented victories and setbacks, the latter of which appear to be dominating the current conversation in Pyongyang. “2020 was a tough year on North Korea,” Jeongmin Kim, Seoul Correspondent at NK News, told Newsweek . “COVID-19 and border closure, trade crashes, multiple floods and typhoons that destroyed the farmlands, failed five-year economic strategy and ongoing sanctions.” As Kim Jong Un oversees his second such meeting at the onset of the 10th year of his rule, experts say that the third-generation heir to the family dynasty leading the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is setting the stage for a new strategy. This plan is likely designed to alleviate internal pressures while simultaneously attempting to navigate a fragile and frozen peace process with rival South Korea , officially the Republic of Korea, and its ally, the United States. But all analysts agreed that Kim Jong Un’s first priorities were at home as he…