Seoul, Oct 30 (IANS): North Korea plans to convene the congress of its ruling Workers' Party for the first time after 36 years in May 2016, a media report said on Friday.

The political bureau of the party's central committee has decided to hold the seventh congress of the party in May, The Korean Herald quoted North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (kcna) as saying.

It marks the first party congress since October 1980, as well as the first since Kim Jong-un took power in late 2011.

"We are faced with the heavy yet sacred task to bring about a great upswing in the building of a thriving socialist nation," the party's political bureau said, according to the KCNA.

A South Korean official said the North's move seems to be aimed at assessing its accomplishments and to set a line of policy.

"The government is closely watching the North's decision. North Korea seemed to make such a decision by taking into account its internal affairs and foreign relations," South Korea's Foreign Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee, saidg.

Experts said that the move could herald the full-fledged start of Kim's era amid prospects that the North's leader is likely to unveil his new polices or conduct a major reshuffle, based on his consolidated power.

The first party congress was held under the regime of Kim Il-sung, the North's late founder and the current leader's grandfather.

North Korea used the congress as a chance to announce new policy lines including the five-year plan for economic development in 1956 and the 10-point goals for building a socialist country in 1980.