North Korea has held a workshop for ruling party officials tasked with propaganda activities and called for their stronger commitment to the party, state media said Wednesday, in what appeared to be efforts to shore up internal unity.The call came during a four-day workshop for officials of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea held in Pyongyang through Tuesday, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)."It has been sternly analyzed that party organizations and workers in the field of propaganda have not lived up to rapid changes in reality and that no clear progress has been made in the area," Ri Il-hwan, secretary of the party's Central Committee, was quoted as saying.Ri instructed participants to equip themselves with political consciousness and better skills to nurture the "spiritual growth" of the new generation, the KCNA said.Participants adopted a pledge of affirmation toward leader Kim Jong-un, it added.The workshop came as the reclusive regime appears to be tightening social discipli ne to block the inflow of outside information, especially as it began partially reopening its border following strict pandemic closures.The North has also adopted laws aimed at strengthening internal control, including a law on "rejecting the reactionary ideology and culture" that bans people from distributing or watching media originating from South Korea, the United States and other countries.North Korea held the last such workshop in March 2022. Kim sent a letter to attendees on the first day of the event, urging them to ramp up their ideological fight, and later met with participants for a photo session.Source: Yonhap News Agency