Kim Jong-un stresses 'self-reliance' amid stalled US talks

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang, Tuesday. Yonhap

By Lee Min-hyung

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has underlined the need for self-reliance as part of efforts to deal with political tension on the Korean Peninsula, a propaganda media outlet from the North said Wednesday.

“Kim urged ranking officials of the regime's ruling party to follow its new strategic line with a strong sense of responsibility and revolutionary spirit,” the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

The remark came Tuesday at a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, two days before the North's planned parliamentary meeting.

The strategic line refers to the regime's economic development plan to achieve major economic growth without reliance on external support.

The continued emphasis on the economic drive came in response to the deadlocked nuclear talks with the United States.

Starting last year, the North has sought a lifting of heavy economic sanctions from international society by pledging to denuclearize, and continue to hold peace talks with the U.S.

But with the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim ending up in failure in February, the rare dialogue momentum between the two started to show little sign of progress.

Despite the summit failure, Washington maintained its hardline stance on the sanctions, saying that it would never offer to partially ease sanctions unless the North achieves final, fully verified denuclearization.

The North's young dictator has since urged the regime to realize economic prosperity by relying on internal unity.

The KCNA went on to say that Kim also stressed the party should seek a paradigm shift in all of its businesses by carrying them out in a responsible, active and creative manner.

But the media outlet did not share any negative or provocative rhetoric against the U.S. during the meeting, only saying the regime needs to properly deal with the “tense situation” on the peninsula.

The KCNA did not specify what the situation refers to, but it possibly indicates the ongoing stalemate in denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

Following the breakdown of the Hanoi summit, the North has stepped up criticism of the U.S. for what it calls making a “unilateral demand” without accepting the request from the North.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui even hinted at the possibility that the North may resume its nuclear armament, in apparent discontent over the failed Hanoi summit.