This archive report was first published on 29 December 2019.
North Korea has been making ominous threats in recent weeks, warning that it could soon resume testing its nuclear and missile capabilities. The country's leader, Kim Jong-un, has convened a meeting of top party officials to discuss the 'harsh trials and difficulties' the country faces in building its state and national defense.
According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, the meeting was called to discuss 'important policy issues for new victory in our revolution under the present situation.' However, the agency provided no further details on what these issues might be.
Analysts in South Korea and the United States are watching closely for signs of a major policy shift before a self-imposed deadline to end nuclear talks with Washington expires on December 31. North Korea has warned that it could soon resume testing its nuclear and missile capabilities, which would be a major blow to the stalled negotiations.
Since assuming power in 2011, Kim Jong-un has accelerated his country's nuclear weapons and missile programs. North Korea has conducted four of its six underground nuclear tests since 2011, and it conducted three intercontinental ballistic missile tests in 2017.
However, at a Central Committee meeting in April 2018, Kim Jong-un declared that since successfully building a nuclear weapon, North Korea would shift its focus to economic development and halt all nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests. Two months later, he met President Trump in Singapore for the first summit meeting between the sitting leaders of North Korea and the United States.
North Korea sounded victorious after the Singapore summit, in which Kim Jong-un promised to 'work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula' while President Trump promised the North security guarantees and 'new' relations. But the mood soon soured when both governments began negotiating the details of what incentives Washington should offer in return for the North's denuclearization and the timeline for doing so.
North Korea has since warned that Washington must offer a 'new calculation' and create a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations by the end of the year. Otherwise, it said it would 'find a new way.' The country has resumed weapons tests, launching 27 mostly short-range ballistic missiles and rockets since May and warning of more provocative tests to come.
