Just like Lenin’s Communist League of Youth, North Korea’s very own youth league includes the name of the country’s god-like founder in its title, underscoring the important role it plays in the social fabric of the country.

But despite requiring the participation of all North Koreans between the ages of 14 to 30 and comprising five million members, the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League has not assembled for a congress event in over 20 years.

This Friday, however, it will meet for the league’s ninth congress, an event that state media has described as a “starting line of the