Updated January 9th, 2021 at 14:39 IST

North Korea's Kim Jong-un says US 'biggest enemy'; vows to develop more nuclear weapons

Kim Jong Un said, "Pyongyang should focus and be developed on subverting the US, the biggest obstacle for our revolution and our biggest enemy”

Reported by: Swagata Banerjee
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North Korea leader Kim Jong Un declared on Saturday that the United States is his country's "biggest enemy" and the nuclear-powered submarine are complete, according to a state media report. Kim has also called to develop smaller, adapatable nuclear weapons. This statement came in just weeks before Joe Biden swears in as the next US President, and after a thunderous relationship between the North Korean leader and the US President Donald Trump.

READ | North Korea: Kim Continues Speech On Day Two Of Congress

Kim and Trump engaged in a dispute followed by a diplomatic relationship that featured headline making summits and love declared by the President of US, but no major progress took place, with the process deadlocked after a meeting in Hanoi broke up over sanctions relief.

READ | N Korea Threatens To Build More Nukes, Cites US Hostility

'US is the biggest obstacle for our revolution and our biggest enemy'

Kim told the five-yearly Congress of the ruling workers’ Party of Korea that Pyongyang should focus and be developed for subverting the US, "the biggest obstacle for our revolution" and "our biggest enemy”, as per official KCNA news agency reports. “No matter who is in power, the true nature of its policy against North Korea will never change,” it quoted him, without mentioning Biden's name.

READ | Trump’s North Korea Envoy Urges Kim Jong Un To Resume Stalled Denuclearisation Talks

He also said that the country should further advance nuclear technology and develop small-sized, lightweight nuclear weapons which are to be applied differently depending on target subjects. 

The comments came during Kim Jong Un’s nine-hour work report to the meeting, spread over three days, which was reported in detail by KCNA for the first time. North Korea is one of the poorest countries in Asia, and the already besieged economy is being hammered by pandemic related border closings with China.

READ | 'I Will Work Hard': Kim Jong Un Thanks North Koreans For Support In Rare New Year Letter

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday presided over the ruling party's Congress, the first during the past five years. On Wednesday, the second day of the meeting, Kim again talked about "improving the people's living standard," the Korean Central News Agency said, and "placing the state defense capabilities on a much higher level." During the opening day, leader Kim Jong Un admitted a failure in his previous economic development plans.

The congress is being held during a challenging period  of Jong Un's nine-year rule, what he had called "multiple crises."North Korea is one of the poorest countries in Asia, and the already besieged economy is being hammered by pandemic related border closings with China, the fallout from a series of natural disasters last summer and persistent US-led sanctions over the nuclear program.

(With Agency Inputs) 

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Published January 9th, 2021 at 14:39 IST