N Korea’s Kim urges ‘positive and offensive’ security measures

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called at a ruling party meeting for “positive and offensive measures” to ensure security in advance of a year-end deadline he has set for denuclearisation talks with the United States, state media KCNA said on Monday.

Kim convened a weekend meeting of top Workers’ Party officials to discuss policy matters amid rising tension over his deadline for Washington to soften its stance in stalled negotiations aimed at dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes.

At a session on Sunday, Kim suggested action in the areas of foreign affairs, the munitions industry and armed forces, stressing the need to take “positive and offensive measures for fully ensuring the sovereignty and security of the country,” KCNA said, without elaborating.

Kim also discussed state management and economic issues, it said, as the country’s economy has been hit by international sanctions over its weapons programmes. He “presented the tasks for urgently correcting the grave situation of the significant industrial sectors of the national economy,” KCNA said.

The meeting was still under way, it said.