Seoul, Nov 30 (IANS): North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a Politburo meeting to discuss plans and preparations for the upcoming eighth Party Congress slated for January 2021, state media reported on Monday.

In a report, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that the enlarged meeting of the 21st Political Bureau of the seventh Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) on Sunday also "examined relevant issues for improving and strengthening the Party ideological work as required by the developing revolution, and approved the organization mechanism issue".

The eighth Party Congress will be held in January, in which a new five-year economic development plan will be discussed and endorsed after the current five-year plan is completed this year, reports Xinhua news agency.

At the meeting, the country's economic institutions were "harshly criticized" for "not guiding their sectors scientifically and for failing to overcome subjectivism and formalism in their work", the KCNA report said.