Leaders of grassroots units of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party visited several museums and historical sites in Pyongyang, state media reported Tuesday, in an apparent effort to tighten internal unity ahead of a conference.

State media earlier said that the conference of secretaries of "party cells" was set to take place early this month to discuss "affairs in prioritizing the position and the role" of the cells, without specifying the date. Party cells refer to the party's most elementary units consisting of five to 30 members.

"The participants in the 6th Conference of Cell Secretaries of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) toured several places of Pyongyang amid welcome" by Pyongyangites, the Korean Central News Agency said.

They also visited other sites including Mangyongdae, Korean Revolution Museum, Phyongchon Revolutionary Site, Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum and the Korean People's Army Museum of Weapons and Equipment.

North Korea claims Mangyongdae as the birthplace of Kim Il-sung, its founding leader and the late grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.

The participants renewed their pledge to work "heart and soul" to implement the decisions made at the eighth party congress and the following plenary meeting, the KCNA said.

The party cell conference comes as North Korea is striving to drum up support for goals and policy directions put forth during the eighth party congress in January, at which Kim admitted to a failure in his previous economic development plan and disclosed a new development scheme.

The conference will mark the third of its kind since current leader Kim took office after his father Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack in late 2011. It was last held in December 2017. (Yonhap)