North Korea’s Kim urges ‘positive and offensive’ security measures at key party meeting – By Hyonhee Shin (Reuters) / Dec 29 2019
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called at a ruling party meeting for “positive and offensive measures” to ensure security ahead of a year-end deadline he has set for denuclearization 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 programs.
At a Sunday session, 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.
The meeting was the largest plenary session of the party’s 7th Central Committee since its first gathering in 2013 under Kim, according to Seoul’s Unification Ministry handling inter-Korean affairs.
The key policy-making organ drew up to 300 attendees. The committee also met in 2018 and in April but in a much smaller scale.
KCNA said the meeting was still under way. It was the first time the gathering has lasted more than one day since Kim took power in late 2011, ministry spokesman Lee Sang-min told a regular briefing.
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