North Korea has convened a party plenary session ahead of the 9th party congress early next year.
On the 10th, the (North) Korean Central News Agency reported that, chaired by Kim Jong-un, the expanded 13th plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Labor Party was convened the previous day.
The Korean Central News Agency added, "It approved discussions on five agenda items, including major issues related to preparations for the 9th party congress, and began deliberations on the respective items."
Earlier, North Korea said it would convene a mid-December Labor Party plenary session to vote on a "series of important issues," including preparations for the 9th party congress.
The Labor Party plenary session is a body that discusses and decides major internal and external issues of the party during periods when the party congress is not in session.
North Korea plans to set major domestic and foreign policy lines for the next five years at the 9th party congress, and attention is on whether the outline will emerge at this plenary session.
Meanwhile, Ri Il-hwan, the party's propaganda secretary who had disappeared from North Korean media for nearly a year, reappeared in photos of the plenary session released that day by the Korean Central News Agency.
Ri Il-hwan had not appeared in North Korean media since a New Year commemorative photo shoot for model workers and meritorious persons on Jan. 2 this year, leading to the view that he had been given a disciplinary warning.
As he was identified sitting on the dais of this plenary session, he appears to have been reinstated.