North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has presided over a joint meeting of the ruling party's central and military committees as the party prepares for a key congress in May, the North's state media said Thursday.

The North's leader chaired a joint meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea's central committee and the Korean People's Army committee in Pyongyang on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The KCNA said that participants had an in-depth discussion on issues to further strengthen the party on the occasion of the upcoming WPK congress.

The WPK is scheduled to hold its first congress in about three decades in May when Kim is likely to unveil new policies and conduct a major reshuffle.

Kim was quoted as saying that the North's revolutionary faith will grow stronger in the face of "manifold difficulties and ordeals," and nobody in the world can block its way.

North Korea has notified U.N. agencies that it will launch what it calls an "earth observation satellite" sometime between Feb. 8-25, which Seoul and Washington see as a covert test of a long-range missile. (Yonhap)