North Korea's state media, which had disclosed the gathering last month, briefly covered Trump's inauguration early in the morning, without any commentary, marking the first time it reported on him since he was elected in November last year.
On his first day in office for his non-consecutive second term on Monday, Trump referred to North Korea as a "nuclear power" and recalled his "good relationship" with the renegade country's leader Kim Jong-un during the former real-estate mogul's first presidency in 2017, raising speculations that Washington may engage in talks with Pyongyang again.
Experts are now speculating how Kim will respond to Trump's comments.
Earlier Kim suggested that he was no longer interested in a "bromance" with Trump. "We have already gone as far as possible with the United States with negotiations, and what we ended up confirming was not a superpower's will for coexistence, but a thorough position based on force and an unchangeable invasive and hostile policy" toward North Korea, he said at a weaponry expo in Pyongyang in November last year, indicating his failed summits with Trump.
But North Korea launched a series of ballistic missiles just ahead of Trump's inauguration, in an apparent sign that it is getting desperate for U.S. attention.
There is growing speculation that Trump may recognize North Korea as a de facto nuclear state, which could prompt Pyongyang to turn to the U.S. for talks.
Meanwhile, Wednesday's gathering is also expected to amend its constitution by removing clauses related to reunification between the two Koreas including references to "brethren."
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