North Korea vows to deliver “serious blow” to those imposing sanctions

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country needs to deliver a “telling blow” to those imposing sanctions by ensuring its economy is more self-reliant, state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Thursday.

The North Korean leader’s broadside against measures imposed in response to missile and nuclear programmes comes weeks after his second summit with Donald Trump ended in failure after they disagreed on how to match sanctions relief with progress on denuclearisation.

“We must deal a serious blow to the hostile forces who are mistakenly determined to bring us to our knees with sanctions by advancing the socialist construction to a high level of self-reliance that fits our circumstances and state, based on our own power, technology, and resources,” Kim said, according to the state news agency KCNA.

Speaking at a plenary session of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ party of Korea on Wednesday, Kim did not mention the US by name or refer to North Korean nuclear weapons, but analysts saw his reference to “hostile forces” as a clear attempt to increase pressure on Washington.

U.S.-North Korean engagement has appeared to be in limbo since the Feb. 27-28 summit in Hanoi, which collapsed over differences about how far North Korea was willing to limit its nuclear programme and the degree of U.S. willingness to ease economic sanctions.

Kim has continued to highlight his economic push in recent weeks despite the lack of sanctions relief.

North Korea is expected to convene a session of its rubber-stamp legislature, the Supreme People’s Assembly, on Thursday.

In its Wednesday meeting, the ruling party also elevated Choe Son Hui, one of North Korea’s leading negotiators with the United States, to a position as a member of the party’s Central Committee.