North Korea says economy now focus of attention

North Korea says it now possesses a “reliable and effective war deterrent for self-defense” and is thus focusing its efforts on developing the country’s economy.

North Korea’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Kim Song made the remark during an address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

Kim said North Korea was threatened by a range of military threats, including “nuclear strike means of all kinds.”

“Genuine peace can only be safeguarded when one possesses the absolute strength to prevent war itself,” he said. “As we have obtained the reliable and effective war deterrent for self-defense by tightening our belts, peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and the region are now firmly defended.”

The effective war deterrent was apparently a reference to North Korea’s nuclear weapons.

“Based on its reliable guarantee for safeguarding the security of the state and people, the DPRK is now directing all its efforts to economic construction,” Kim said, referring to his country by its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Kim acknowledged that the international sanctions against Pyongyang were hindering its efforts, saying, “It is a matter of fact that we badly need an external environment favorable for economic construction.”

“But,” he added, “we cannot sell off our dignity just in a hope for brilliant transformation — the dignity which we have defended as valuable as our own life. This is our steadfast position.”

Kim also said the coronavirus epidemic in North Korea was “now under safe and stable control” as a result of precautionary measures. North Korea has so far reported no confirmed cases of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The remarks came as North Korea’s ruling party plans to convene a congress in January next year to decide a new five-year plan, official media reports said last month, after a party meeting pointed to serious delays in improving the national economy and living standards.

UN sanctions monitors reported to the UN Security Council last month that North Korea was pressing ahead with its nuclear weapons program and several countries believed it had “probably developed miniaturized nuclear devices to fit into the warheads of its ballistic missiles.”

The United States has imposed rounds of unilateral sanctions against the North over its nuclear and missile programs since 2006. The UN has imposed its own bans as well.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump met three times following diplomatic efforts by South Korea that began in January 2018. But engagement has gradually halted owing to Washington’s refusal to relieve any of the harsh sanctions in exchange for the goodwill measures by Pyongyang, including a suspension of nuclear and missile tests.

Early this year, Kim called off the moratorium on such tests and said Pyongyang would soon develop a “new strategic weapon.”