North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for concentrated efforts to build up the country's light industrial sector that has direct bearing on the lives of everyday people, state media reported Tuesday.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) monitored in Seoul said Kim stressed the importance of the sector in a speech given at a national light industry gathering held in Pyongyang.

The official news wire service said the leader made clear that light industry, along with agriculture, is critical for transforming the North into an economic power and improving the lives of the people. Kim also said light industry is the main target for the concentration of the country's resources, even under heightened tensions surrounding the Korean Peninsula, the media report said.

The North detonated a nuclear device on Feb. 12, and threatened to turn Seoul and Washington into a "sea of fire" for playing a leading role in pushing for fresh sanctions at the United Nations and for conducting joint military drills.

The KCNA said Kim emphasized the goal of the country is to prevent a new war from breaking out on the Korean Peninsula and to strive for economic growth under peaceful circumstances to highlight the superiority of Pyongyang's socialist system and hasten eventual unification of the two Koreas.

The news report said the leader pointed out that there is a pressing need to locally produce materials and parts for the light industrial sector and ordered the development of the chemical sector and build up of regional manufacturing capabilities.

Kim, moreover, called for creating up-to-date managerial and corporate strategies, and doing away with the inflexible attitudes of workers and managers in the light industry field.

North Korea watchers in Seoul said the North Korean leader's latest remarks on light industry mirrors what he said in the New Year's address on Jan. 1. The light industry gathering, meanwhile, is the first to be held in 10 years. The last time such a gathering was held was in late March 2003. (Yonhap News)