The unification ministry has assessed that the scale of North Korea's key meeting currently being held by the ruling Workers' Party is similar to one held in 2019.

Ministry officials told reporters Tuesday that the regime has convened around one-thousand people for the plenary meeting, aiming to hear from the field and to relay major policy decisions for next year.

North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) reported that participants range from members of the Central Committee to executives of major companies and factories. 

Much attention is being drawn to what kind of policies will be rolled out to carry on the momentum of leader Kim Jong-un's five-year economic development plan, and whether Pyongyang will maintain strict lockdowns into next year amid the persisting COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Kim's younger sister Kim Yo-jong was not seated among the members of the Central Committee's Political Bureau, suggesting that she is yet to be promoted.