North Korea may suspend nuclear deal

NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for his military and diplomats to prepare unspecified “offensive measures” to protect the country’s security and sovereignty.

The call came before his end-ofyear deadline for the Trump administration to make major concessions to salvage a fragile nuclear diplomacy.

At a ruling Workers’ Party meeting, Kim also “comprehensively and anatomically analysed” problems arising in efforts to rebuild the North’s moribund economy and presented tasks for “urgently correcting the grave situation of the major industrial sectors”.

The plenary meeting of the party’s Central Committee, which began on Saturday, is being closely watched amid concerns Kim could suspend his deadlocked nuclear negotiations with the US and take a more confrontational approach by lifting a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests.

Kim, who has said the North would pursue a “new path” if Washington persists with sanctions and pressure, is expected to announce major policy changes during his New Year’s address tomorrow.

The report did not describe any specific decisions made at the meeting or mention any particular remarks by Kim about the US.

KCNA’s Korean-language report said Kim called for “active and offensive” measures.

Kim has met US President Donald Trump three times in two years of high-stakes summitry, but the diplomacy has progressed little beyond their vague aspirational goal of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

At their last meeting in June, the pair agreed to resume talks, but a working-level meeting in Sweden in October broke down.