North Korea will convene a congress of the country's largest youth association for the first time in four years, state media reported Thursday, in an apparent move to enlist support for new policies and decisions adopted at last month's Workers' Party congress.

During the eighth congress of the ruling Workers' Party, the North unveiled a new five-year economic development plan focusing on self-reliance in the face of the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and global sanctions on its regime.

The Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League, the largest youth association governed by the Workers' Party, held a meeting Wednesday and decided to convene the 10th congress in April, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"The coming congress will serve as a significant occasion for the youth league to demonstrate more highly its fighting efficiency as the advancing group, wing and contingent of warriors of the Party in the advance for successfully carrying out the struggle goal and tasks set forth at the historic 8th Congress of the Party," the KCNA said.

The youth league was created by the country's late founder Kim Il-sung in 1946, with its current membership presumed to be around 5 million. The organization's name was changed in 2016 from the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League to the current Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League.

The Socialist Women's Union of Korea, another major North Korean organization consisting of housewives, also decided to convene its seventh congress, the KCNA said, though it did not specify when the congress will take place.

Those upcoming meetings appear to be intended to strengthen internal solidarity and enlist strong support for the ruling party facing an uphill battle in implementing its newly unveiled economic development scheme due to the nationwide antivirus fight and biting global sanctions. (Yonhap)