North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said that his country needs to deliver a "serious blow" to hostile forces imposing sanctions through a self-reliant economy.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) said on Thursday that Kim made the remark during a plenary session of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party on Wednesday, a day before the North convenes the first session of its 14th Supreme People's Assembly. 

Kim reportedly said that North Korea must deal a serious blow to hostile forces, who are mistakenly determined to bring the country down with sanctions, by advancing the construction of a socialist country to a high level of self-reliance with its own power, technology and resources befitting its conditions.

He added that self-reliance and an independent economy for the people are the basis of the North's socialism and a permanent lifeline that will determine the fate of its revolution.

Kim mentioned his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in late February in Hanoi but made no comment against Washington or on his country's nuclear program.

[Photo : YONHAP News]