SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has solemnly sworn to navigate his country out of deepening economic troubles as he concluded a major ruling party meeting, acknowledging food shortages and urging officials to prepare for both dialogue and confrontation with the U.S. North Korea’s state media released Kim’s comments shortly before President Joe Biden’s special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, arrived in South Korea on Saturday for talks over stalled nuclear diplomacy with the North. Kim Jong Un presided over a four-day plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, which he summoned to discuss efforts to salvage a dismal economy, hurt by years of mismanagement and U.S.-led sanctions that were made worse by pandemic border closures.