Members of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party participate in the fifth day of the party's eighth congress in Pyongyang on Jan. 9. Yonhap

North Korea has clarified the importance of powerful defense capabilities in containing military threats in its revised rules for the ruling Workers' Party, state media reported Sunday.

The revision was adopted at the fifth-day session of the eighth party congress in Pyongyang on Saturday, a day after leader Kim Jong-un defined the United States as the country's "foremost principal enemy" and vowed to bolster its nuclear arsenal, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"(The preface) clearly clarified that powerful defense capabilities would fundamentally contain military threats and safeguard the stability and peaceful environment of the Korean peninsula," the report said.

The revision reflects the North's "unwavering stance" to establish a lasting peace on the peninsula and advance unification based on strong military power, KCNA said.

Korea Central News Agency reported in July 2019 that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, second from right, checked the country's newly built submarine. Yonhap