North Korea holds crucial meeting ahead of year-end deadline set for US

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday chaired a crucial meeting of the ruling Workers Party to discuss "important policy issues for new victory in our revolution" ahead of the year-end deadline the country has set for the United States to offer concessions in the ongoing talks.

"Guided" by leader Kim Jong-un at the venue in Pyongyang on Saturday, it was to discuss important matters in "the building of the state and national defence," Yonhap News Agency quoted Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as reporting.

Kim and Trump have met three times since June 2018 but there has been no substantive progress in dialogue and the government in Pyongyang has demanded that international sanctions be lifted first.

Last week, the North Korean state media said that the US would "pay dearly" for taking issue with Pyongyang's human rights record and that Washington's "malicious words" would only aggravate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The US envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun visited South Korea and China last week, making a public and direct call to North Korea to return to the negotiating table.

North Korea has conducted a number of test-launches of short-range missiles in the months since the last summit. The country is banned from carrying out such tests under the United Nations' sanctions.