North Korea plans to hold a conference of top performers who are leading efforts to overcome economic difficulties under a new slogan of boosting self-reliance at the end of this year, Pyongyang's state media said Thursday.

The central committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea decided to convene a meeting of "Mallima pace-setters" in Pyongyang at the end of 2017, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Mallima refers to an imaginary horse that can run extreme distances at a very high speed and the term is used in North Korea to highlight the country's push to get people to produce meaningful results in a speedy manner.

The move will help elevate the "fighting spirit of the Korean people working heroic myth of self-development on all fronts of building a socialist power in the spirit of Kangwon Province," the KCNA said.

The North's leader has called for practicing the spirit of the Kangwon Province as his own self-reliance motto in recent weeks.

Kangwon Province lies in the country's southeastern region where the coastal city of Wonsan, known as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's hometown, is located. In Wonsan, there is the Masikryong ski resort, a pet project of the leader, who is known to love skiing.

Kim first mentioned the spirit of the province in December when he visited a hydroelectric power station in Wonsan. He called those who joined the plant's construction "creators" of the spirit as they practice the principle of self-development. (Yonhap)