Kim Jong-un vows ‘offensive measures’ to protect North Korea but flags economic concerns at party meeting

Kim has set an end-of-year deadline for the Trump administration to make major concessions to salvage the fragile nuclear diplomacy

Having promised the North would pursue a ‘new path’, Kim is expected to announce major policy changes during his New Year’s address on Wednesday

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during the Workers’ Party meeting on Sunday. Photo: EPA

Published: 1:08am, 30 Dec 2019Updated: 9:05pm, 30 Dec 2019

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for his military and diplomats to prepare unspecified “offensive measures” to protect the country’s security and sovereignty, the North’s state media said on Monday.

Kim during a ruling Workers’ Party meeting on Sunday also “comprehensively and anatomically analysed” problems arising in efforts to rebuild the North’s moribund economy and presented tasks for “urgently correcting the grave situation of the major industrial sectors,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The plenary meeting of the party’s Central Committee, which began on Saturday, is being closely watched amid concerns Kim could suspend his deadlocked nuclear negotiations with the US and take a more confrontational approach by lifting a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests.

Kim has also set an end-of-year deadline for the Trump administration to make major concessions to salvage the fragile nuclear diplomacy. Having promised the North would pursue a “new path” if Washington persists with sanctions and pressure, Kim is expected to announce major policy changes during his New Year’s address on Wednesday.

The North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper published photos of Kim, wearing a white dress shirt and horn-rimmed glasses, speaking from a podium as hundreds of government and military officials jotted down his comments.

US President Donald Trump steps into the northern side of the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea. Photo: AFP

“Emphasising the need to take positive and offensive measures for fully ensuring the sovereignty and security of the country as required by the present situation, [Kim] indicated the duties of the fields of foreign affairs, munitions industry and armed forces of the DPRK,” KCNA said in its English report, referring to North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

KCNA’s Korean-language report said Kim called for “active and offensive” measures.