Kim Jong Un Demands North Korea’s Nuclear Arsenal Be Expanded More Quickly

Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, has demanded that the nation’s nuclear weapons program advance more quickly.

According to state media KCNA on Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stated that his nation has to quickly increase its nuclear arsenal and called US-South Korean military drills “an obvious expression of their will to provoke war.”

The comments were made during this week’s joint military exercises between the US and South Korea, which included practicing an enhanced response to North Korea’s increased nuclear threats.

Pyongyang frequently denounces these drills as invasion drills and periodically retaliates with weapon testing. Washington and Seoul, meanwhile, maintain that the exercises are solely defensive.

According to South Korea’s military, the 11-day yearly Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises will be similar in scope to those in 2024, but 20 out of 40 field training events will now take place in September instead. Although observers are skeptical of Pyongyang’s response, the delays are in line with President Lee Jae Myung’s declared objective of reducing tensions with North Korea.

According to KCNA’s English version, Kim stated during a visit to a navy destroyer on Monday that the maneuvers were a “clear expression of … their intention to remain most hostile and confrontational” to North Korea. Noting that recent US-South Korea drills featured a “nuclear element,” he continued by saying that the security situation required the North to “rapidly expand” its nuclear arsenal.

US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung are scheduled to meet in Washington soon to discuss efforts to handle North Korea’s nuclear program.

According to Hong Min, a North Korea analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, “North Korea is demonstrating its refusal to accept denuclearization and the will to irreversibly upgrade nuclear weapons through this move.”

North Korea may have manufactured enough fissile material for up to 90 nuclear weapons, but it most likely assembled closer to 50, according to a Federation of American Scientists research last year.

Along with its nuclear aspirations, North Korea is testing cruise and anti-air missiles for its third 5,000-ton Choe Hyon-class destroyer, which it hopes to build by October of next year.