TASS, January 1. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un did not address the nation with a New Year greeting, for the first time since 2013, Yonhap News Agenci said on Wednesday.
Kim traditionally addressed the nation on the first day of January to outline the country’s key political priorities for the coming year. His address was televised by the national television.
This year, however, North Korea's state television did not broadcast Kim's address. It was not published either in the central newspaper Rodong Sinmun or in other papers either. Instead, according to Yonhap, the North Korean media highlighted Kim Jong-un’s speech at a plenary session of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea when he made a series of loud statements.
Thus, he said his country would unveil a new strategic weapon soon. According to Kim, North Korea would not stop its strategic nuclear weapons projects as long as the US takes a hostile stance toward Pyongyang. Apart from that, he said North Korea is no longer obliged to implement its moratorium on nuclear tests due to continuous US missile tests on the Korean Peninsula. The North Korean leader called for efforts to beef up the armed forces "so that hostile forces could not even dare to infringe upon" the republic’s sovereignty and security.