North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed an “uncompromising struggle” against anti-socialist elements at home, state media reported on Thursday, as he tries to fortify his power amid pandemic-related difficulties and U.S.-led economic sanctions.
The comments by Mr. Kim, the third member of his family to rule the impoverished nuclear-armed country, come as doubts increase about both North Korea’s economy and whether it will engage in serious disarmament talks with Washington. There are also worries that the North is continuing to build a strengthened atomic arsenal that directly threatens the U.S.
The Biden administration, which took over after dramatic, but unsuccessful, direct diplomacy between Mr. Kim and former President Donald Trump, has described its North Korea policy review as “calibrated and practical.”
But some experts say Washington won’t relax sanctions — a step North Korea badly wants — until the North first takes denuclearisation steps. That may be unlikely because Mr. Kim is seen by many outside analysts as viewing his weapons as his government’s only guarantee of survival.
In a letter to workers, Mr. Kim said “the struggle against the anti-socialist and non-socialist practices is a do-or-die battle to defend the working-class purity and lifeline of our style of socialism,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
