Pyongyang, North Korea - North Korea's ruling Workers' Party is holding an end-of-year session under its general secretary, supreme leader Kim Jong-un, state media reported on Wednesday.

The party's central committee was to review the events of 2023 and discuss the "orientation of the struggle for 2024," the reports said.

At the start of the conference lasting several days, Kim described 2023 as a "year of great shifts and changes."

He referred to the entrenching of nuclear armament in the country's constitution in September, describing it as a great political achievement that had allowed North Korea to establish itself in the "position of a military power," according to the reports.

China China responds to Russia's threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine

Observers believe that Kim will use the conference to maintain his combative rhetoric directed at Seoul and Washington and to reassert the country's targets for nuclear weapons.

At a central committee session a year ago, Kim said expanding North Korea's military strength was the target. Tensions have since risen on the Korean Peninsula.

After ratcheting up missile tests in 2022, North Korea has again tested nuclear-capable missiles, including intercontinental missiles, this past year.

The US and its ally South Korea have at the same time expanded their military exercises.

Over recent years, Kim has replaced his previous New Year's addresses with a speech to the central committee of the Workers' Party in the one-party state.