NK leader chairs joint meeting of key committees

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un chaired a joint meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea's central committee and the Korean People's Army Committee in Pyongyang, Tuesday and Wednesday, the Korean Central News Agency said.

Delegates to the meeting, ahead of the party's key congress scheduled in May, discussed how to strengthen the party.

At the congress, the first in decades, Kim is expected to unveil policies and conduct a major reshuffle.

Meanwhile, Pyongyang has notified U.N. agencies that it will launch an “earth observation satellite” between Feb. 8-25, which South Korea and the U.S. see as a disguised test of a long-range missile.

Local network KBS disclosed Wednesday a recording by purged senior North Korean official Ri Yong-ho saying, “Firing a satellite is the same as firing a rocket weapon. Putting a nuclear warhead on that rocket means we can fire it to the continental U.S. That’s why we remain confident.”