North Korean leader Kim Jong-un / Yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent verbal messages to the leaders of Cuba, Vietnam and Laos and called for stronger relations, state media reported Wednesday, in a move apparently intended to strengthen ties with socialist countries amid stalled nuclear talks with the United States.

Kim sent the messages to "notify the accounts of the 8th Congress of the WPK" to Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong, Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith, and Raul Castro, the first secretary of Cuba's communist party, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). WPK is the Workers' Party of Korea.

In his message, Kim also discussed and decided on the North's policy stand on the bolstering of defense capabilities, as well as on inter-Korean relations and North Korea-U.S. relations, KCNA said.

"He clarified again the will of the WPK to develop the ties of strategic and comradely unity and cooperation with Cuba on the road of struggle for the victory of the socialist cause and launch a dynamic joint struggle against imperialism," it said.