North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to accelerate the strengthening of the country’s defense capabilities, accusing South Korea and the US of pushing the Korean Peninsula “to the brink of a nuclear war” through their military modernization efforts, state media reported on Tuesday, News.Az reports, citing AFP.
North Korea remains subject to multiple international sanctions over its nuclear weapons program. The Korean Peninsula also technically remains in a state of war, as the 1950–53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim reaffirmed the government’s commitment to expanding national defense capabilities during a concluding speech at a three-day meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea, which ended on Monday.
“Comrade Kim Jong Un in his concluding speech reaffirmed the steadfast policy stand of our Party and state to beef up the national defence capabilities faster,” KCNA quoted the leader as saying.
The meeting brought together senior officials to review key policy initiatives and discuss the country’s strategic direction, according to the state news agency.
KCNA reported that Kim criticized what he described as growing military cooperation between Washington and Seoul, including efforts related to South Korea’s pursuit of a nuclear-powered submarine and broader military modernization programs.
“The US and the ROK are pushing forward with the ROK’s possession of a nuclear submarine while getting evermore undisguised in their moves towards the reinforcement and modernisation of armed forces in the region,” Kim said, referring to South Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Republic of Korea.
According to KCNA, Kim argued that these actions are “pushing the situation in the Korean peninsula to the brink of a nuclear war.”
In response, he said North Korea would maintain its “steadfast stand” of further expanding and strengthening what he described as a powerful and reliable self-defense deterrent.
The party meeting unanimously concluded that steadily strengthening the country’s nuclear forces remains the most effective way to address what it called an increasingly unpredictable international military and political environment.
KCNA added that North Korea’s efforts to develop its deterrence capabilities, based on nuclear technology, would continue “at increasing speed.”
Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state since the collapse of the 2019 summit between Kim and then-U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, where negotiations broke down over disagreements regarding denuclearization measures and sanctions relief.
Earlier this month, Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, reiterated that the country’s nuclear policy was a “line of no retreat,” underscoring North Korea’s position that it has no intention of abandoning its nuclear arsenal.
Meanwhile, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said last week that U.S. President Donald Trump had told him it was time to “pay attention to the North Korea issue.”
Speaking to reporters after their meeting during the G7 summit in France, Lee said he told Trump that sanctions against North Korea had proven “ineffective.”
“I also said that we can no longer deal with the North Korean nuclear issue in the same way we deal with other countries, and President Trump agreed,” Lee added.