Kim calls US North Korea’s ‘biggest enemy’ regardless of president

Kim Jong Un called the United States his country’s “biggest enemy” and threatened to continue advancing North Korea’s nuclear programme, state media reported on Saturday.

In his first comments on the transition of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, Kim said he does not see Washington’s North Korea policy changing with the new US administration, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, as cited by South Korea’s Yonhap agency.

Biden is due to be inaugurated as president on January 20.

Kim said the key to future relations between the two countries is an end to a “hostile” stance from the White House.

In the comments at a workers’ party congress in Pyongyang, Kim also called for an “unrelenting pursuit of building nuclear power for the safety of our people.”

KCNA also reported that North Korea has completed research designs for a new nuclear submarine.

Nuclear talks with the US have stalled since a failed summit between Trump and Kim in Vietnam in February 2019.

Pyongyang has said repeatedly since then that it is not interested in fresh talks until Washington comes up with new proposals.

North Korea remains internationally isolated because of its nuclear weapons programme. The sanctions imposed as a result of the weapons programme are hampering its economic development.