North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for “positive and offensive measures” to ensure the country’s security before a year-end deadline he has set for denuclearization talks with the United States, according to KCNA on Monday.

Kim convened a weekend meeting of top Workers’ Party officials to discuss policy matters amid rising tension over his deadline for Washington to soften its stance in stalled negotiations aimed at dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

Earlier, Kim suggested action in the areas of foreign affairs, the munitions industry and armed forces, stressing the need to take “positive and offensive measures for fully ensuring the sovereignty and security of the country,” KCNA said.

KCNA further said that the meeting was still underway. It was the first time the gathering had lasted more than one day since Kim took power in late 2011, ministry spokesman Lee Sang-min told a regular briefing.

On Monday, the US was watching the end-of-year meeting closely and hoped North Korea would choose peace over confrontation, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

On Sunday, Kim held a key meeting of top ruling party officials.

Last week, former US National Security Adviser John Bolton criticized President Donald Trump’s North Korea policy and warned that the Asian Country posed an “imminent” threat.

In August, during the 10-day training, North Korea raised tensions with its own missile and other weapons tests. But North Korea’s typical harsh rhetoric over the drills largely focused on South Korea, not the United States, in a suggestion that it’s still interested in resuming nuclear talks with the US.

President Donald Trump said recently that he received a “beautiful” three-page letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump further said that Kim wanted to meet again to restart the talks after the US-South Korean drills ended and that Kim offered him “a small apology” over a series of weapons tests.

The two leaders met again in late February in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, but the second DPRK-US summit ended without any agreement. Under the Singapore deal, Kim and Trump agreed to the complete denuclearisation of and the peace settlement in the peninsula.

The DPRK criticised the South Korea-US joint military drills as a rehearsal for a northward invasion, test-firing short-range projectiles into the East Sea before and during the drills to protest against it.

Earlier this month, North Korean media published pictures of Kim riding a white horse on a sacred mountain, imagery that experts said was heavy with symbolism and may indicate a policy announcement.

(With inputs from agency)