SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un put the economy front and centre of an agenda-setting speech at the end of a key ruling party meeting, state media reported Saturday, with no mention of the United States.

Instead of the policy positions on diplomacy for which Kim’s New Year statements have been closely watched in recent years, he focused on food security and development at a plenary of the central committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

The impoverished, nuclear-armed nation has been under a rigid self-imposed coronavirus blockade that has hammered its economy. In a speech at the end of the party meeting on Friday, Kim acknowledged the “harsh situation” in 2021 as he laid out plans for the coming year, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

He described the challenges of 2022 as “a great life-and-death struggle” and set “an important task for making radical progress in solving the food, clothing and housing problem for the people”, KCNA said.