North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday pledged to continue building up its nuclear arsenal in light of the “grave threat” posed by the United States and its allies.
Pyongyang maintains its United Nations-sanctioned nuclear program is essential as a deterrent and in 2023 enshrined the country’s status as a nuclear weapons power into its constitution amid escalating tensions with South Korea. Washington and Seoul have both warned that the Kim regime would come to an end if it were ever to mount a nuclear attack.
During his speech commemorating the 76th anniversary of the country’s founding, Kim stressed that the country must forge ahead with efforts to consolidate its national defense.
“As the reckless expansion of the military bloc system led by the U.S. and its development into the character of a nuclear-based military bloc, the military security environment around the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) has come close to us as a grave threat,” Kim said using North Korea’s official name, per a transcript shared by state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Newsweek reached out to the North Korean Embassy in China with a written request for comment outside office hours, as well as the State Department.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives a National Day speech on September 9. State media quoted him as pledging to continue building up the country’s nuclear arsenal.
Korean Central News Agency
Kim said the country’s nuclear forces and posture should be “more thoroughly perfected” as a result.
The communist country will “steadily strengthen” its nuclear capabilities to the point they’re “fully coping with any threatening acts imposed by its nuclear-armed rival states,” he added, vowing to “redouble” national efforts including nuclear forces to be fully prepared for war.
Kim’s remarks followed a joint statement by China, Japan, and South Korea in May reiterating their support for the North’s eventual denuclearization following a trilateral summit in Seoul.
Pyongyang blasted the statement as a violation of its sovereignty in a rare rebuke of China, which in the past voted for U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear program, despite being the country’s only true ally at the time.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent Kim a congratulatory personal message in which he praised the “socialist cause” under Kim’s leadership and said China stands ready to further “traditional China-DPRK friendly and cooperative relations,” according to a copy shared by KCNA.
Kim received a similar message from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the two countries’ deepening ties. Putin hailed the “tradition of friendship and good neighborliness have reached a high level,” pointing to his highly publicized visit to Pyongyang in June that produced a military assistance agreement between the two countries.
The Federation of American Scientists estimated earlier this year that North Korea has developed some 50 nuclear warheads in the 18 years since it announced its first nuclear weapons test.
