“This year, our military and people successfully carried out the first hydrogen bomb test and launched a satellite (into orbit), boosting the country's dignity and national power,” Kim said at the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) congress, according to the Yonhap News Agency.
He also praised the country achieving "unprecedented results," the BBC reported.
The 7th Congress of Workers’ Party, which is the first such meeting since 1980, started earlier on Friday at the April 25 House of Culture in the country’s capital Pyongyang.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula escalated after North Korea carried out a nuclear test – allegedly a hydrogen bomb test – in early January and put a satellite into orbit a month later which violated UN Security Council resolutions and triggered condemnation from the international community.
In March, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2270, which severely restricted Pyongyang from engaging in commercial activities that could benefit its nuclear or missile programs.
