The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is projecting newfound confidence and optimism as thousands of its uniparty delegates flood Pyongyang for their semi-decennial congress.

As usual, the tightly calibrated, almost mechanical rhetoric on display has offered little insight into the clandestine operations of the world’s most mysterious regime — but intelligence agencies and foreign observers know that when one is trying to understand the trajectory of North Korea, the devil is in the details.