North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to strengthen his country’s military capabilities and nuclear arsenal, days before US President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

“While strengthening our nuclear war deterrent, we need to do everything in order to build the most powerful military,” North Korea’s state news agency KCNA quoted Kim as saying on Wednesday.

Kim made the pledge as he delivered his closing speech at the ruling Workers’ Party congress, the first held in five years, which came to an end after eight days of policy discussions on Tuesday.

The massive ruling party congress was held amid a struggling economy in the face of persisting US-led sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier, Kim described the United States as “the fundamental obstacle” to the development of North Korea and the country’s “foremost, principal enemy.” He said Washington’s hostile policy toward Pyongyang “will never change, whoever comes to power,” without mentioning Biden by name.

North Korea has long been under harsh sanctions by the United Nations (UN) and the US over its nuclear and missile programs.

During the last meeting of the congress, which was held in 2016, Kim reaffirmed his commitment to developing nuclear weapons and announced an economic development plan.

The new party congress came less than two weeks before Biden’s inauguration and amid a prolonged gridlock in talks between the outgoing US President Donald Trump administration and Pyongyang aimed at ending the North’s nuclear and missile programs.

The talks have been deadlocked since February 2019 over the US’s refusal to offer any sanctions relief in return for several North Korean steps toward denuclearization.

The official KCNA news agency further reported that the congress would be followed on Sunday by a meeting at its top legislature, the Supreme People’s Assembly, to adopt legislation related to the nation’s new five-year national economic development strategy.

ME