North Korea`s leader, Kim Jong Un, called for Òoffensive measuresÓ to strengthen security at a meeting of senior officials, the state-run media reported on Monday, a day before a North Korean-imposed deadline for Washington to make concessions in stalled nuclear talks.
Kim`s comments came at a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the WorkersÕ Party, which was convened over the weekend amid North Korean warnings that it was prepared to abandon diplomacy and resume nuclear and long-range missile tests.
On Sunday, the second day of the meeting, Kim emphasised Òthe need to take positive and offensive measures for fully ensuring the sovereignty and security of the country as required by the present situation,Ó according to the NorthÕs official Korean Central News Agency.
To that end, Kim outlined Òthe duties of the fields of foreign affairs, munitions industry and armed forces,Ó the news agency reported. It provided no clarifications, including whether North Korea would officially lift its moratorium on testing intercontinental ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons.
Washington has dismissed the Dec 31 deadline imposed by North Korea as Òartificial,Ó and has urged Pyongyang to maintain a dialogue and not revert to the provocations that had raised fears of war on the Korean Peninsula two years ago.
But KimÕs remarks about Òoffensive measuresÓ indicated that North Korea was shifting to a harder line amid faltering diplomacy with Washington.
President Donald Trump, who has met with the North Korean leader at two summit meetings, has repeatedly cited his Ògood relationshipÓ with him — at one point, he said he and Kim Òfell in love.Ó He has frequently cited the NorthÕs testing moratorium as evidence that his policy of engaging with North Korea is working.
North Korea has not been explicit about what might happen after the Dec. 31 deadline expires, but Kim has warned of finding a Ònew wayÓ if Washington does not remove the economic sanctions that have crippled his countryÕs economy or if it tries to force an unpalatable denuclearisation deal.
The North Korean leader is set to deliver an annual speech on New YearÕs Day, and analysts say he may officially reveal a major policy shift to be adopted at the partyÕs Central Committee. The committee is one of the highest decision-making bodies in North Korea, but it usually rubber-stamps any policy proposed by Kim, who rules with totalitarian control of the party, the military and all other levers of power.
The party meeting was set to continue on Monday, and cover a variety of domestic and external issues, such as how to revive the countryÕs agriculture and other moribund industries, the news agency reported.
Since assuming power in 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un has accelerated his countryÕs nuclear weapons and missile programs. North Korea has conducted four of its six underground nuclear tests since 2011, and it conducted three intercontinental ballistic missile tests in 2017.
But at a Central Committee meeting in April 2018, Kim declared that with its nuclear force successfully built,North Korea would shift its focus to economic development and halt all nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
Two months later, he met Trump in Singapore for the first summit meeting between the sitting leaders of North Korea and the United States. Afterward, North Korea sounded victorious, and Kim promised to Òwork toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.Ó Trump in turn promised the North security guarantees and ÒnewÓ relations.
But the mood soon soured as the governments began negotiating the details of what incentives Washington should offer in return for the NorthÕs denuclearisation and the timeline for doing so. The North demanded the immediate lifting of UN sanctions. Washington, however, insisted that North Korea first dismantle its nuclear program.
A second meeting between Kim and Trump, held in Vietnam in February, ended without an agreement, and North Korea later warned that Washington must offer a Ònew calculationÓ and create a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations by the end of the year.
Turning up the pressure, the North has resumed weapons tests, launching 27 mostly short-range ballistic missiles and rockets since May and warning of more provocative tests to come. It warned this month that it was entirely up to the Trump administration Òwhat Christmas gift it will select to get,Ó and conducted two ground tests at its missile engine test site to bolster what it called its Ònuclear deterrent.Ó
But Christmas Day passed without any long-range missile or nuclear test by North Korea.
In recent weeks, North Korean officials have suggested that they have all but concluded that there is little point in continuing negotiations with the politically vulnerable Trump.
They have hardened their position, vowing to keep denuclearisation off the table until Washington first revoked its entire `hostile policy,` including ending joint annual military exercises with South Korea. And they have also reverted to calling Trump insulting names, among them Òdotard.`
Source: The New York Times
