Kim vows to build socialism amid US nuclear impasse

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed an "uncompromising struggle" against anti-socialist elements at home, state media reported Thursday, as he tries to fortify his power amid pandemic-related difficulties and U.S.-led economic sanctions.

The comments by Kim come as doubts increase about both N Korea's economy and whether it will engage in serious disarmament talks with the US.

There are also worries that the North is continuing to build a strengthened atomic arsenal that directly threatens the United States.

The Biden administration, which took over after dramatic, but ultimately unsuccessful, direct diplomacy between Kim and former President Donald Trump, has described its recent North Korea policy review as "calibrated and practical." But some experts say Washington won't relax sanctions - a step North Korea badly wants - until the North first takes denuclearization steps.

That may be growing increasingly unlikely because Kim is seen by many outside analysts as viewing his weapons as his govt's only guarantee of survival.

In a letter to participants at a meeting this week of labor organizations, Kim said "the struggle against the anti-socialist and non-socialist practices is a do-or-die battle to defend the workingclass purity and lifeline of our style of socialism," the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

"Anti-socialist and non-socialist practices" likely refer to citizens pursuing capitalism, perceived selfishness and other things that Kim sees as running counter to socialism and collectivism and posing a threat to his family's rule.

Kim said it's important to "wage (an) uncompromising struggle against (the anti-socialist and non-socialist practices) and resolutely smash them."