Ahead of a year-end deadline for Washington to shift its stance on stalled nuclear talks, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday held a key meeting of top ruling party officials, according to report.

On Saturday, the plenary session opened that follows widespread speculation that Pyongyang is preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile — as a threatened “Christmas gift” for Washington.

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Kim presided over the meeting which discussed a new “transparent, anti-imperialist independent stand”, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

The ruling Workers’ Party of Korea will also “discuss important matters arising, in the building of the state and national defence”, KCNA added.

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)