North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for a nuclear weapon expansion “without limit,” state-run media reported Monday, as he claimed the United States and its allies were raising military tensions in the region and around the world. File Photo by KCNA/EPA-EFE
SEOUL, Nov. 18 (UPI) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for strengthening the country’s nuclear weapons capacity “without limit” and completing war preparations against what he claimed was a “frantic” military buildup led by the United States, state media reported Monday.
Kim made the remarks during a speech to battalion commanders and political instructors at a Korean People’s Army conference on Friday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
“The line of strengthening the nuclear force has long since become an irreversible policy for us, and the only thing left is for the nuclear force to be more fully operational so that it can carry out its mission of deterring war,” Kim said, according to KCNA.
“We will ceaselessly continue to strengthen the self-defense power of the country centered on nuclear weapons without limit and without complacency,” he said.
Kim described the enhanced nuclear deterrence strategies between the United States and South Korea and increased trilateral cooperation with Japan as an “Asian version of NATO” that is escalating regional tensions.
The allies’ “frantic” military buildup has “brought the tension on the Korean Peninsula, the world’s biggest hotspot, to the worst phase in history,” Kim said.
Kim’s speech came days after the leaders of the United States, South Korea and Japan met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru and announced a new secretariat for trilateral cooperation.
U.S. President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba issued a joint statement at APEC condemning North Korea’s decision to deploy troops to Russia for combat against Ukraine, saying the move will “dangerously expand Russia’s war of aggression.”
The North has dispatched upwards of 10,000 troops to Russia for its war against Ukraine, some of which have begun combat operations, the U.S. State Department confirmed last week.
North Korea recently ratified a defense pact with Russia that calls for mutual military assistance in the event either country is attacked.
Kim, meanwhile, slammed the United States for supporting Kyiv in his speech, saying Washington and its allies were using Ukrainian forces as “shock troops” to expand their military influence around the globe.
“The international security situation is becoming more dangerous, raising fears that World War III could break out,” Kim said.