PYONGYANG (REUTERS) - Pyongyang children practise for foreign journalists ahead of a major musical gala to mark a rare party congress.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is expected to declare his reclusive country a nuclear weapons state during the congress.

"Whenever I come here, I feel the love and affection of our great Marshal Kim Jong Un," said Sun Ji Hoon, an eight-year-old primary school student.

The performance staged for foreigners lasted two hours and had political undertones.

Foreign reporters offer the world a rare view from inside the isolated country, but their movements are closely managed.