North Korean leader Kim Jong Un bucked recent tradition this week by releasing a major speech at the conclusion of the Party plenum on New Year's Day instead of making the anticipated annual New Year Address.

In the speech, Kim revealed a policy shift to greater national focus on weapons development, telling the North Korean people he will not back down to U.S. demands and that, assuming the U.S. will not give in either, they should expect economic hardships as sanctions relief is not likely to come.

In this week's episode, Dr. Andrei Lankov along with NK News reporters Jeongmin Kim and Colin Zwirko sat down for a roundtable chat to discuss the plenum speech and what it means for U.S.-DPRK relations in the coming year -- a year which will see both a U.S. Presidential election in November and Pyongyang's continued pursuit of economic development amid the stalemate.