North Korea has yet to announce the timetable for a delegates’ conference of its Workers’ Party, which is regarded as a landmark event in the future of the communist country.

The Unification Ministry in Seoul told a news briefing that no signs have been detected that North Korea has begun the conference of party delegates.

North Korea announced in June a plan to open the party delegation conference in the first half of September.

South Korean intelligence authorities predict that the conference will open within this week at the latest, saying that the opening appears not to have been delayed because of the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.