Kim Jong-un touts economic growth amid rocket launch speculation

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un waves as he arrives to board his his train at the Dong Dang railway station in Lang Son on March 2, 2019. AFP-Yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is continuing to stress economic development as the most urgent task facing his country, state media said Saturday, amid speculation that the North may launch a rocket.

In a letter to a national conference of propaganda officials held in Pyongyang earlier this week, Kim stressed the need to concentrate all efforts on building a “socialist economy.

He called on party officials to spur efforts to handle ideology education for citizens to ensure that " great progress will be made in socialist economic construction," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

It was Kim's first message made public since he returned home empty-handed following the breakdown of last week's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi.

It also came amid reports that there are signs of North Korea restoring part of the Dongchang-ri missile test site that it began to dismantle last year.

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sit down for a dinner during the second U.S.-North Korea summit at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam February 27, 2019. Also pictured at right are U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. Reuters-Yonhap

South Korea's spy agency also said vehicle activity had been detected at the Sanum-dong rocket assembly center near Pyongyang, which is known to produce intercontinental ballistic missiles, including the Hwasong-15.

U.S. think tanks and experts are floating the possibility that North Korea could launch a long-range missile in a test or a rocket carrying a satellite from either the repaired Dongchang-ri site or the Sanum-dong center.

Trump said he would be "very, very disappointed" with Kim if the reports were true. He added Thursday that he was "a little disappointed."

It is not clear whether Kim's message may be aimed at showing that North Korea could resume its nuclear and missile tests that have been halted since 2018.

In a rare revelation, North Korea's Rodong Sinmun, the country's main newspaper, reported the breakdown of the Trump-Kim summit for the first time Friday.

The country apparently recognized the fact that it cannot conceal the summit outcome indefinitely as North Koreans in border areas can access outside information relatively easily. (Yonhap)