By Jack Kim and Kyu-seok Shim<\/p>\n
SEOUL, June 23 (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said exercising the country’s position as a nuclear state is the only way to cope with an unpredictable and complicated \u200cglobal security situation, KCNA state news agency reported on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“Unimaginable, astonishing incidents and events” are occurring because \u200cof the “gangster-like” greed of hegemonic forces, making confrontations around the world more violent, Kim said, blaming the U.S. for worsening bloodshed in Europe and the Middle \u200bEast.<\/p>\n
He was speaking at a Central Committee meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, running from Saturday to Monday, KCNA said.<\/p>\n
Kim accused the U.S. and South Korea of making the security situation on the Korean Peninsula more dangerous by steadily upgrading their combined nuclear posture, the only purpose of which, he said, is to attack North Korea.<\/p>\n
“To steadily expand and strengthen the nuclear forces … and \u200cto thoroughly exercise the position of a nuclear \u2060weapons state is the most correct and unique way to actively and confidently cope with the unpredictable international military and political situation getting complicated in multiple ways,” KCNA said.<\/p>\n
KCNA did not elaborate \u2060on specific actions regarding the country’s nuclear arsenal that might be taken.<\/p>\n
Kim also ordered the buildup of conventional weapons and accelerated construction of a 10,000-ton strategic guided missile cruiser, KCNA said.<\/p>\n
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said \u200bthe comments \u200bunderscore Pyongyang\u2019s continued rejection of denuclearisation and push for recognition as \u200ba nuclear state.<\/p>\n
“North Korea is once again reaffirming \u200cthat denuclearisation talks are off the table,” Yang said, adding it would only engage in negotiations “as a nuclear weapons state on an equal footing,” potentially focusing on arms reduction rather than dismantlement.<\/p>\n
Such talks would imply acceptance of a minimum deterrent and require sanctions relief, he said, fundamentally differing from phased denuclearisation proposals, such as those raised by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to U.S. President Donald Trump at the G7.<\/p>\n
Yang said that references in the party meeting to the U.S.-South Korea Nuclear \u200cConsultative Group, a body aimed at deterring North Korea’s nuclear threat, \u200band Seoul\u2019s ambitions to develop a nuclear-powered submarine were being used by Pyongyang \u200bto justify its nuclear buildup.<\/p>\n
North Korea has defied \u200ba slew of sanctions imposed by both the United Nations and the U.S. between 2006 and \u200c2017 banning Pyongyang from developing nuclear weapons and ballistic \u200bmissiles to deliver them. Its \u200bstance has alarmed regional powers.<\/p>\n
It has declared itself a nuclear state and has said nothing would convince it to abandon its atomic weapons, despite years of diplomatic efforts by the U.S., China and South Korea.<\/p>\n
The party meeting also \u200bhighlighted a push to modernise the coal \u200cindustry and redevelop mining communities, which Kim described as a strategic priority.<\/p>\n
“Coal effectively remains North Korea\u2019s main \u200benergy resource,” Yang said, noting plans to upgrade the industry aimed at easing chronic energy shortages.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Jack \u200bKim in Seoul; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Ed Davies)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jack Kim and Kyu-seok Shim SEOUL, June 23 (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[178,141,31,34,177,5501,5500,3185,2447,33],"class_list":["post-62281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-korea","tag-kcna","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-korea","tag-north-korea","tag-north-korean-leader","tag-nuclear-forces","tag-nuclear-state","tag-nuclear-threat","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-south-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62281","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=62281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}