PYONGYANG (Dispatches) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “solemnly swore” to navigate his country out of economic troubles as he concluded a major ruling party meeting.
North Korea’s state media released Kim’s comments shortly before President Joe Biden’s special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, arrived in South Korea on Saturday for talks over stalled nuclear diplomacy with the North.
Kim Jong Un had presided over a four-day plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, which he summoned to discuss efforts to salvage the economy, hurt by years of U.S.-led sanctions.
As he closed the meetings on Friday, Kim “solemnly swore” on behalf of the Central Committee that the party “will surely break through head-on the difficulties lying in the way of the revolution,” the Korean Central News Agency reported.
Kim opened the Central Committee plenary on Tuesday by warning of potential food shortages, calling on North Korean officials to find ways to boost agricultural production as the situation was getting “tense.”
The 37-year-old leader said the country should brace for extended COVID-19 restrictions, suggesting that he would extend border closures and other steps despite heightened pressure on the economy.
North Korea has long been under harsh sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs. The U.S. has spearheaded UN sanctions and has imposed several rounds of its own.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump attempted to court Pyongyang, and although he met with Kim three times, he refused to relieve any of the sanctions on the North in return for several steps taken by Pyongyang toward denuclearization. That hampered further diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington and prompted Kim to announce an end to a moratorium on the country’s missile tests.
Pyongyang has blasted the new administration in Washington for pursuing a “hostile policy” after U.S. President Joe Biden said he would deal with the “threat” posed by the North’s nuclear program “through diplomacy as well as stern deterrence.”