North Korea will hold a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party later this month to discuss this year's state policies and policy goals for next year, its state media said Saturday.

The ninth plenary meeting of the eighth Central Committee of the WPK will be convened late in December to "review the execution of the Party and state policies in 2023," the Korean Central News Agency said in an English-language dispatch.

The decision was made during a politburo meeting on Friday, with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in attendance, the KCNA said.

The party will "discuss and decide on orientation of struggle for 2024 and important issues," it added.

The North typically holds a year-end plenary meeting to review the year's accomplishments and discuss policy objectives for the coming year.

The upcoming plenary meeting comes after the North successfully launched its first spy satellite Malligyong-1 on Oct. 21, after two failed attempts in May and August.

At the politburo meeting, Kim noted that the overall state work has been "dynamically promoted with vigor," as evidenced by "epoch-making changes of great significance in bolstering up the national defense capability," among other achievements, the KCNA reported in a separate dispatch.

"He (Kim) called upon all the sectors and units to add to their strong spirit of advance and successfully conclude the significant year 2023," it said.

North Korea has defended the satellite launch as its "legitimate" right to strengthen "self-defensive capabilities" and vowed to launch several additional spy satellites "in a short span of time." (Yonhap)