North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to expand his country’s nuclear arsenal, condemning the US and its allies as a destabilising force pushing the region towards war, Korean media reported on Monday.
During a visit to the North Korean defence ministry, Kim announced “new plans to rapidly strengthen all deterrent forces, including nuclear forces, and reiterated the unshakable course of further developing the nuclear armed forces,” the Korean Central News Agency reported.
Kim Jong Un called the main reason for the military imbalance that could lead to a military clash on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia “the presence of US nuclear weapons on the peninsula, multilateral conditional nuclear military exercises led by the United States, the trilateral military bloc of the US, Japan and South Korea, created in the scenario of a regional military alliance, and the formation of an Asian-type NATO.”
The North Korean leader also “expressed serious concern over the insane actions of the US and the West, which are deliberately dragging out the conflict in Ukraine to realise the impossible dream of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.”
Kim emphasised that North Korea “does not want unnecessary tension” but vowed to take “sustainable countermeasures” to maintain the regional balance of power and prevent “the outbreak of a new war.”
North Korea has amassed about 50 nuclear warheads since its first test in 2006, according to the Federation of American Scientists. This arsenal, which analysts say is central to Kim’s quest for regime legitimacy, continues to fuel tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Tensions have been exacerbated by Pyongyang’s frequent ballistic missile tests in recent years. US President Donald Trump has met Kim three times during his first term in an unsuccessful attempt to curtail North Korea’s nuclear programme.
The North Korean leader’s remarks came after US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday reaffirmed their intention to work together to fully denuclearise Pyongyang.
