North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country must rapidly expand its nuclear arsenal and described US-South Korea military exercises as “an obvious expression of their will to provoke war,” state media KCNA reported on Tuesday.
The remarks came as South Korea and the United States launched joint military drills this week, including testing an upgraded response to heightened North Korean nuclear threats.
Pyongyang routinely criticises such exercises as rehearsals for invasion, occasionally responding with weapons tests. Seoul and Washington, however, insist the drills are purely defensive.
The 11-day annual exercises, named Ulchi Freedom Shield, will mirror the scale of 2024’s drills but with 20 of 40 field training events rescheduled to September, South Korea’s military said. The delays align with President Lee Jae Myung’s stated goal of easing tensions with North Korea, although analysts remain sceptical about Pyongyang’s reaction.
During a visit to a navy destroyer on Monday, Kim said the exercises were a “clear expression of … their intention to remain most hostile and confrontational” to North Korea, according to KCNA’s English translation. He added that the security environment demanded the North “rapidly expand” its nuclear armament, noting that recent US-South Korea drills included a “nuclear element.”
Efforts to address North Korea’s nuclear development are expected to be discussed at an upcoming Washington meeting between US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
“Through this move, North Korea is demonstrating its refusal to accept denuclearisation and the will to irreversibly upgrade nuclear weapons,” said Hong Min, a North Korea analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
A Federation of American Scientists report last year estimated that while North Korea may have produced enough fissile material for up to 90 nuclear warheads, it had likely assembled closer to 50.
In addition to its nuclear ambitions, North Korea plans to construct a third 5,000-tonne Choe Hyon-class destroyer by October next year and is testing cruise and anti-air missiles for these warships.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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