{"id":53981,"date":"2026-06-16T01:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T01:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/53981\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T01:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T01:06:09","slug":"north-korea-plays-us-china-rivalry-card-to-justify-irreversible-nuclear-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/53981\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea plays US-China rivalry card to justify \u2018irreversible\u2019 nuclear status"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Korea<\/a>\u2019s latest spirited defence of its nuclear arsenal signals a strategy that goes beyond rejecting international calls to disarm and instead leans into mounting global superpower rivalry to legitimise its weapons build-up.The verbal offensive comes as North Korea could soon face renewed pressure to return to the negotiating table. Analysts say the winding down of the Iran conflict may allow Washington and its allies to refocus attention on the Korean peninsula<\/a>.Pyongyang has also seized on US commander\u2019s description of South Korea<\/a> as a \u201cdagger\u201d pointed at China<\/a>, framing its nuclear arsenal as a legitimate response to an increasingly hostile regional security environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe North is emphasising its role as a frontline actor in the broader US-China strategic rivalry as it seeks to improve ties with Beijing and gain support for its nuclear build-up, as well as greater economic and military help from China,\u201d said Oh Gyeong-seob, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the war in Iran draws to a close, North Korea is bracing [itself] for renewed international pressure for denuclearisation while closing ranks with China and Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NorthNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un (centre) observes a newly developed lightweight multipurpose missile launching system and multiple tactical cruise missile weapon systems on May 26. Photo: KCNA\/Yonhap\/dpaOn Saturday, a spokesman for North Korea\u2019s foreign ministry accused Seoul of discarding its \u201cmask of peace\u201d by issuing a joint statement with the European Union<\/a> at a summit in Brussels last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Korea\u2019s latest spirited defence of its nuclear arsenal signals a strategy that goes beyond rejecting international calls…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[136,4877,134,74,19951,114,141,5279,5280,132,34,129,137,112,33],"class_list":["post-53981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pyongyang","tag-beijing","tag-brussels","tag-china","tag-donald-trump","tag-european-union","tag-iran","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-korea-institute-for-national-unification","tag-korean-peninsula","tag-moscow","tag-north-korea","tag-pyongyang","tag-russia","tag-seoul","tag-south-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}