North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to implement the "most categorical" anti-American policy, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA, citing local media.
The agency notes that this is happening a month before Donald Trump's inauguration as US president.
Donald Trump's return to the White House increases the likelihood of high-level diplomacy with North Korea. During his first term, Trump met with Kim three times to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear program. But many experts do not believe that talks between the two will resume anytime soon, as Trump is expected to focus first on the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. North Korea's support for Russia in the war in Ukraine also poses a challenge to the revival of diplomatic efforts.
During a plenary session of the ruling Workers' Party that ended on Friday, Kim called the United States "the most reactionary country that adopts anti-communism as an unchanging state policy." Kim added that the security partnership between the United States, Japan and South Korea was developing into a “nuclear and military bloc of aggression“.
“This clearly shows in which direction we should advance, what and how to do“, Kim was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
In his speech, Kim “clarified the strategy for the most categorical anti-American countermeasures“ by North Korea in support of its long-term national interests and security.
The KCNA did not specify what the anti-US strategy would be, but said Kim had set goals to strengthen military capabilities through advances in defence technology and stressed the need to improve the resilience of the North Korean soldier.
Previous meetings between Trump and Kim not only ended their then-current exchange of threats of annihilation, but also developed a personal relationship between them. Trump once even said that he and Kim "fell in love". But their talks ultimately collapsed in 2019 as they argued over US sanctions on Pyongyang.
Since then, North Korea has sharply increased the frequency of its tests in an effort to create more reliable nuclear missiles aimed at the US and its allies. The US and South Korea have responded by expanding their bilateral military exercises, as well as trilateral ones involving Japan, drawing strong criticism from Pyongyang, which views such US-led exercises as rehearsals for invasion.
Last month, Kim said his past talks with the United States had only confirmed Washington's "unwavering" hostility towards his country, and described his nuclear arsenal as the only way to counter external threats.