N Korea faces \'historic turning point\'\, says state media ahead of summit

N Korea faces 'historic turning point', says state media ahead of summit

AFP  |  Seoul 

is facing a "significant, historic turning point", said on Monday, ahead of a highly-anticipated second summit between and

Attention has been focused on whether the US team will offer to lift some economic sanctions on North Korea, in return for taking concrete steps toward denuclearisation.

"It is time for us to tighten our shoe strings and run fast, looking for a higher goal as we face this decisive moment," the newspaper said in an editorial.

"Our country is facing a significant, historic turning point," it added, without explicitly referencing the summit.

Earlier this month, US Trump tweeted that will become a "great Economic Powerhouse" under Kim.

"He may surprise some but he won't surprise me, because I have gotten to know him & fully understand how capable he is," said Trump.

The commentary called on North Koreans to make greater efforts to boost the country's economy.

is rising as a "strong, socialist nation," and one's true act of patriotism begins at one's workplace, the commentary added.

"Each and every product should be made to make our country shine." North Korea, which holds most of the peninsula's mineral resources, was once wealthier than the South, but decades of mismanagement and the demise of its former paymaster the have left it deeply impoverished.

In 2017 the banned the North's main exports -- coal and other mineral resources, fisheries and -- to cut off its access to hard currency in response to Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Mon, February 18 2019. 10:35 IST