North Korea’s ruling party is scheduled to open a conference of top delegates for the first time in 44 years on Tuesday.

North Korean media, including the state-run Korean Central News Agency and Korean Central Television, on Monday made the confirmation, as they reported that top officials of the Workers’ Party of Korea arrived in Pyongyang on Sunday.

The North had forecast that the conference would take place in early September but offered no explanation when the meeting failed to open. Then last Tuesday, KCNA reported that the meeting to elect the party's leaders will be held in Pyongyang on September 28th.

Attention is being drawn to whether the gathering would make official the naming of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s third son, Jong-un, as Kim’s heir.