North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un put the economy front and centre of an agenda-setting speech at the end of a key ruling party meeting, state media reported Saturday, with no mention of the United States.
Instead of the policy positions on diplomacy for which Kim's New Year statements have been closely watched in recent years, he focused on food security and development at a plenary of the Workers' Party of Korea.
The nation has been hammered by a rigid self-imposed coronaviruses blockade that has hammered its economy.
In a speech at the end of the party meeting on Friday, Kim acknowledged the harsh situation in 2021 as he laid out plans for the coming year, according to the Korean Central News Agency KCNA.
He described the challenges of 2022 as a great life and death struggle, and set an important task for making radical progress in solving the food, clothing and housing problem for the people KCNA said.
The Covid 19 epidemic and the closure of the border saw the country record its biggest economic contraction in over two decades in 2020, according to the South Korean central bank.
Concerns have grown about a full-blown food crisis in North Korea, and a UN human rights expert warned in October that the most vulnerable were at risk of starvation Kim, who took power just over a decade ago after the death of his father Kim Jong Il, said that fighting the pandemic was one of the main goals for the coming year.
Emergency epidemi prevention work should be a top priority in the state's work, according to KCNA.
Analysts pointed out the impact of Covid as the reason for the sharpened focus on the economy.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at the Ewha Womans University in Seoul, told AFP that the Pandemic continues to affect North Korea's diplomacy, decimate its economy, and make border controls the top security issue.
Kim did not mention the United States or directly address foreign policy.
He said that Pyongyang would continue to build up its military capabilities, keeping in mind the military environment of the Korean peninsula and the changing international situation.
That includes ensuring loyalties and obedience in the military, improving militias, and the production of the powerful equipment corresponding to modern warfare KCNA quoted as saying.
It didn't provide any further details.
Chad O'Carroll, a specialist website NK News, said that Kim may be aware that revealing sophisticated military development plans might not be a good idea this year, because people are suffering food shortages and harsh conditions outside of Pyongyang.
North Korea is more or less in survival mode for 2022 and doesn't know what to do. Pyongyang is under international sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, which have progressed rapidly under Kim.
The worsening economic situation during the Pandemic has not blunted those programmes, and North Korea has continued to pursue weapons development, a UN report said in October.
In 2021, North Korea said it had successfully tested a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile, a long-range cruise missile, a train-launched weapon, and what it described as a hypersonic warhead.
The country has stayed away from talks on its nuclear programme since the collapse of the dialogue between Kim and US President Donald Trump in 2019.
Under Trump's successor, Joe Biden, the United States has repeatedly declared its willingness to meet North Korean representatives, while saying it will seek denuclearisation.
Pyongyang has so far dismissed the offer, accusing Washington of pursuing hostile policies.