Speaking on the policy directions for the new year at a key meeting of the country's ruling party on Wednesday, Kim also said Pyongyang would expand strategic cooperation with "anti-imperialist independent" countries, news agency KCNA said, Paralel.Az reports citing France 24.

"He (Kim) set forth the militant tasks for the People's Army and the munitions industry, nuclear weapons and civil defence sectors to further accelerate the war preparations," KCNA said.

Kim also laid out economic goals for the new year during the meeting, calling it a "decisive year" to accomplish the country's five-year development plan, the report said.

"He ... clarified the important tasks for the new year to be dynamically pushed forward in the key industrial sectors," and called for "stabilising the agricultural production on a high level."