North Korea holds first party congress in decades

The congress drew thousands of selected delegates from across the country to the capital, Pyongyang, for a gathering of North Korea's top decision-making body.

The 33-year-old leader was not even born when the last Workers' Party Congress was held in 1980, but was expected to deliver a keynote address which will be minutely inspected for any policy shift or personnel changes in the governing elite.

Kim may decide to take on the post of party General Secretary, a position held by his late father, elevating himself from First Secretary.

The current congress was understood to have begun on Friday morning inside the imposing April 25 Palace and is expected to last four or five days. Kim is expected to declare North Korea a nuclear-weapons state and formally adopt his "Byongjin" policy to push simultaneously for economic development and nuclear capability.

North Korea has conducted a series of weapons tests, including three failed launches of an intermediate-range missile, in the run-up to the Workers' Party congress.

According to analysts, Kim has aggressively pursued nuclear weapons and could be looking to a successful fifth test this week as a crowning achievement.

North Korea has invited foreign media to cover the congress, although journalists' movements are closely managed and several restrictions are still imposed on foreigners in terms of the country and its people.

Security has been stepped up ahead of the key event.