At a recent two-day meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly in Pyongyang, North Korea confirmed several routine matters — including the state budget for the year ahead and greater defense spending — but made no mention of any position toward the new US government under President Donald Trump.

Analysts suggest that Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, may be biding his time and waiting for Trump to make an opening move that might presage a return of the "bromance" that saw the two men meet on three occasions the last time Trump was in the White House.

On the other hand, Pyongyang may be pointedly ignoring the US given the failure of the 2019 North Korea-United States Hanoi Summit, a meeting that left Kim embarrassed as he had staked so much on a positive outcome.

At the same time, the North is in a significantly better economic and military situation after signing a series of agreements with Russia, meaning Kim is less desperate for a better working relationship with the US, analysts said.

And while Pyongyang may not have used the meeting to state its intentions toward the US, the test launch of a series of sea-to-surface cruise missiles on Saturday, just days after Trump's

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