A source in Pyongyang has reported to The Daily NK news of a decree instructing provincial Party delegates to assemble in Pyongyang by the 9th for the Chosun Workers’ Party Delegates’ Conference.

It was widely presumed that the Delegates’ Conferences would be held in advance of the founding day of the North Korean regime on September 9th, based primarily on the fact that in announcing the event the Chosun Central News Agency asserted it would occur at “the beginning of September,” which in Korean clearly implies a time prior to the 10th of the month.

Indeed, even internal sources reported that the most likely dates for the conference were before the 9th, meaning that the authorities probably kept a tight lid on the details until recently even within the Party.

Only the travel and access controls to Pyongyang that are in place and have been since the end of last month implied that the conference is impending at all.

Revealing news of the decree, the source from Pyongyang said, “Until I left Pyongyang on the 4th, I had not noticed any signals of local delegates arriving,” and added, “when local delegates arrive, Pyongyang gets so noisy and the area around the April 25th Inn gets crowded.”

The April 25th Inn is next to the Daedong River in the Sadong-district of Pyongyang, and can reportedly accommodate around 20,000 people.

The source explained, “The Delegates’ Conference will be held in the April 25th People’s Army House of Culture; there will be around 2,000 participants. That is 2,000 delegates, and around 3,000 members of the audience, so around 5,000 people will gather.”

According to a source from Chongjin, there are around 150 delegates from North Hamkyung Province and a similar number from other provinces. Delegates’ Conferences are smaller than Party Congresses; in 1980, 3220 delegates took part in the 6th Party Congress which saw Kim Jong Il emerge onto the political stage.

Meanwhile, as Pyongyang waits for the conference, the authorities are engaged in thoroughgoing crackdowns on alley markets, residence inspections, the questioning of pedestrians and such like. Additionally, Kim Jong Il Political Military University students have allegedly been dispatched to local Peoples Safety Ministry offices and are keeping watch over residents’ activities.