North Korea holds party meeting to bolster army

North Korea leader Kim Jong-un presided over a meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party and discussed "important orgsational and political measures and military steps to bolster up" the country's armed forces.

The meeting was held amid heightened tensions between Pyongyang and Washington, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un gave analysis and briefing on the complicated internal and external situation and said that the meeting would decide on important orgzational and political measures and military steps to bolster up the overall armed forces of the country," the Korean Central News Agency said.

"Also discussed were important issues for decisive improvement of the overall national defense and core matters for the sustained and accelerated development of military capability for self-defence," it added.

The meeting appears to suggest that the North could soon hold a plenary meeting of the party's Central Committee, where it could decide to scrap its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests.

The meeting also decided on "important military issues and measures for orgzing or expanding and reorgzing new units in conformity with the party's military and strategic intention, changing the affiliation of some units and changing the deployment of units."

However, North Korea state media did not give details when did the meeting actually take place.

Early this month, North Korea said that that the denuclearisation talks with the United States are off the table.

The nuclear negotiations between the US and North Korea have been at a standstill since the Hanoi summit between President Donald Trump and leader Kim broke up in February, and Pyongyang has since demanded Washington change its approach by the end of the year.

( With inputs from ANI )