Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Un announced that the ruling Workers' Party of Korea will hold a national congress next year to draw up a new five-year plan, as a party meeting notes serious delays in improving the national economy, state media said on Thursday.

The plenary meeting of WPK Central Committee on Wednesday decided to convene a congress in January to set forth "a correct line of struggle and strategic and tactical policies" after reviewing lessons from the past five years, the official KCNA news agency said.

The meeting comes as the country is coping with damage from recent flooding after weeks of heavy rains. Lots of roads, bridges and railway sections were damaged, according to KCNA's reporting. 

Kim noted in a speech at the meeting that his country had faced both "unexpected and inevitable challenges in various aspects and the situation in the region," KCNA reported.

The plenary meeting called the implementation of the decisions made at the last congress an "indomitable struggle" and said the party had made "a great revolutionary turn," it reported.

"On the other hand, economy was not improved in the face of the sustaining severe internal and external situations and unexpected manifold challenges," KCNA quoted the plenary as saying.

"Thereby planned attainment of the goals for improving the national economy have been seriously delayed and the people's living standard not been improved remarkably."

The congress last met in 2016, where Kim announced the first five-year economic plan since the 1980s and vowed not to use nuclear weapons unless the country's sovereignty was infringed on by others with nuclear arms.

Last year, Kim vowed to make a "frontal breakthrough" in the country's campaign to build a self reliant economy in the face of tightening sanctions aimed at curbing its nuclear and missile programs.

(With input from Reuters)