Kim has been increasingly driving “self-reliant” development as the centrepiece of a five-year economic strategy begun in 2016.
North Korean state media published detailed reports on Tuesday of a visit by leader Kim Jong Un to two fisheries, underscoring his drive to build economic independence as negotiations with the United States to lift punishing sanctions soured.
Kim has been increasingly driving “self-reliant” development as the centrepiece of a five-year economic strategy begun in 2016.
His visit to the fish processing plants was splashed across a two-page spread in state newspaper Rodong Sinmun, less than a day after senior officials blamed U.S. President Donald Trump for the failure to continue meaningful dialogue between the two countries over North Korean denuclearisation.
One official said that Washington “should not dream of negotiation for denuclearisation before dropping its hostile policy” – an apparent reference to U.S. military drills with South Korea and punishing sanctions.