SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korea displayed new submarine-launched ballistic missiles under development and other military hardware in a parade that underlined leader Kim Jong Uns defiant calls to expand the countrys nuclear weapons program.

State media said Kim took center stage in Thursday nights parade celebrating a major ruling party meeting in which he vowed maximum efforts to bolster the nuclear and missile program that threatens Asian rivals and the American homeland to counter what he described as U.S. hostility.

During an eight-day Workers Party congress that ended Tuesday, Kim also revealed plans to salvage the nations economy, hit by U.S.-led sanctions over his nuclear ambitions, pandemic-related border closures and natural disasters that wiped out crops.

The economic setbacks have left Kim with nothing to show for his ambitious diplomacy with President Donald Trump , which derailed over disagreements about sanctions relief in exchange for North Korean denuclearization steps, and pushed Kim to what is clearly the toughest moment of his nine-year rule.

Kims comments are likely intended to pressure the incoming U.S. government of Joe Biden , who has previously called the North Korean leader a thug and accused Trump of chasing spectacle rather than meaningful curbs on the Norths nuclear capabilities. Kim has not ruled out talks, but said the fate of bilateral relations depends on whether Washington abandons its hostile policy toward North Korea.