SEOUL - Party officials are arriving in Pyongyang, North Korea's state-run media said Monday, signaling an imminent meeting that outsiders describe as a critical step in leader Kim Jong Il's hereditary power transfer, The Washington Post reports.

North Korea's newspaper, the Rodung Sinmun, said that the rare meeting of Workers' Party delegates would "mark a meaningful chapter in the history of our party."

Photos from Pyongyang showed citizens staging a practice celebration. Troops have gathered in the city, ready for a military parade, according to the South Korean government. Japan's Kyodo news agency reported that children have been marching the streets, singing "Footsteps," which hails Kim Jong Il's youngest son.

North Korea, the world's most reclusive nation, said in June that it would hold a party conference - its first such extraordinary meeting since 1966 - sometime in early September. Specific dates are unknown, but North Korea analysts believe the conference will be held this week, staged to announce an overhaul of leadership and a high-level position for heir Kim Jong Eun.

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