North Korea set for collision course with US as Kim Jong-un solidifies one-man rule – By Justin McCurry (The Guardian) / January 12 2021
Analysis: Congress gathering ends with Kim taking symbolic post of general secretary and a warning the US needs a fresh strategy
A rare meeting of North Korea’s ruling party has ended with a symbolically important new title for the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, speculation about the future of his influential sister, and a shot across the bow of the incoming US president.
Less than two weeks before Joe Biden’s inauguration, much of what Kim told the first congress of the ruling Workers’ party for five years had a familiar ring to it.
Citing the justification the North has used to press ahead with its nuclear weapons programme, Kim labelled the US his country’s “biggest enemy”. Progress on denuclearisation, he said, would be wholly dependent on an end to American aggression.
“Our foreign political activities should be focused and redirected on subduing the US, our biggest enemy and main obstacle to our innovated development,” Kim said, according to the official KCNA news agency.
