North Korea is set to discuss the revision of the ruling party's rules at the party congress on Monday to reflect what the country claims is its nuclear state status, experts said.

On the fourth day of the congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the communist country is likely to clarify that it is formally a nuclear-armed state when it revises the party's rules, North Korean watchers speculated.

At the party gathering, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made it clear that he will "permanently" defend the pursuit of his signature policy of developing nuclear weapons in tandem with boosting the country's moribund economy, commonly known as the "byeongjin" policy.

He also called his country a "responsible nuclear weapons state," adding that Pyongyang will not use its nuclear arms first unless its sovereignty is threatened by other countries with nuclear bombs.

The North's constitution already stipulates that the country is a nuclear-power state when it was revised in 2012. As the WPK has precedence over all other authority in the North, a change in the party rules holds more significance.

"North Korea is likely to state that it is a nuclear-armed nation in the ruling party's rules," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

Seoul's unification ministry said that the government and the international community have the same stance that the North should not be recognized as a nuclear state.

"The international community's sanctions and pressure on North Korea will continue until the North abandons its nuclear weapons program," Jeong Joon-hee, a ministry spokesman, said in a regular press briefing.

The country's state media, in addition, said Monday that party delegates unanimously adopted a decision by the ruling party's central committee to hold the North's leader "in high esteem at the top post."

If Kim is appointed to a newly created post in the WPK, it should be also enshrined in the party's guidelines, experts said.

The North's current leader has three titles -- the first secretary of the WPK, the first chairman of the National Defense Commission and the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army.

His late grandfather and the country's founding father Kim Il-sung is called the "eternal president," and his late father Kim Jong-il is dubbed the "eternal general secretary" of the WPK.

Some experts said that as the young leader is not expected to inherit the same titles of his predecessors, he may be appointed the chairman of the WPK's central committee.

The post of the committee's chairmanship was abolished in October 1966, when an organizational reshuffle took place.

The WPK's central committee supervises and organizes all party affairs and manages the coffers of the party.

The seventh party congress, which kicked off Friday, is the first of its kind since October 1980 and also the first under the current leader, who assumed power in late 2011 following the sudden death of his father. (Yonhap)