Kim Jong Un

Kim Jong Un urges ‘unlimited and sustained’ development of nuclear combat forces as North Korea gears up for a key party congress.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen a test launch of long-range strategic cruise missiles and called for the “unlimited and sustained” development of his country’s nuclear combat forces, according to state media.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday that Kim expressed satisfaction as the cruise missiles flew along their orbit, set above the sea west of the Korean Peninsula, and hit their target.

The launch, which took place on Sunday, was the latest event Kim attended, in a flurry of activity by the North Korean leader to underscore the country’s military and economic progress before a key party congress expected to be held in early 2026.

The meeting will set a development plan for North Korea for the next five years.

Kim said that “checking the reliability and rapid response of the components of [North Korea’s] nuclear deterrent on a regular basis … [is] just a responsible exercise”, as the country “is facing various security threats”. He also affirmed that Pyongyang would keep devoting “all their efforts to the unlimited and sustained development of the state nuclear combat force”, KCNA reported.

KCNA did not specify the area in which the missiles were launched.

South Korea’s state news agency Yonhap reported on Monday that South Korea’s military detected the launch of multiple missiles from the Sunan area near Pyongyang on Sunday morning.

It warned that North Korea may conduct additional missile tests at the end of the year.

Separately, the KCNA reported on Thursday that Kim also inspected an 8,700-tonne “nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine” under construction and warned that South Korea’s plan to build nuclear-powered submarines will be a threat to North Korea’s security that “must be countered”.

It was the first time North Korean state media had released images of the submarine since March, when they mostly showed the lower sections of the vessel.

During the Thursday event, Kim was accompanied by his daughter, a possible successor, and oversaw the test-firing of long-range surface-to-air missiles.

Kim has attended multiple openings of facilities, including factories and hotels, during the past month, as the country races to wrap up its current “five-year plan” of development before convening the ninth Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea in early 2026.

Last November, North Korea also staged a ballistic missile test, just more than a week after United States President Donald Trump, on a tour of the region, expressed interest in meeting with Kim. Pyongyang did not respond to the offer.

At that time, Trump had just approved South Korea’s plan to build a nuclear-powered submarine.

Since Kim’s 2019 summit with Trump collapsed over the scope of denuclearisation and sanctions relief, Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state.

Kim has since been emboldened by Russia’s war on Ukraine, securing critical support from Moscow after sending thousands of troops to fight alongside Russian forces.

SEOUL, Dec. 16 (UPI) — The likelihood of a renewed summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has increased, even as Pyongyang presses ahead with nuclear weapons development, a South Korean think tank said Tuesday.

In an annual forecast released by the Foreign Ministry-linked Korea National Diplomatic Academy, analysts said Trump is expected to continue a top-down approach to North Korea under which leader-level talks could resume.

“The likelihood of a North Korea-U.S. summit has increased somewhat due to common ground in the two leaders’ desire to hold a summit, pursue peaceful coexistence and lower the priority of the denuclearization issue,” the report said.

Trump met Kim three times during his first term — in Singapore in 2018, in Hanoi in 2019 and briefly at the Demilitarized Zone later that year — but talks collapsed amid disagreements over sanctions relief and steps toward denuclearization.

Since returning to office, Trump has floated another summit with Kim on numerous occasions, telling reporters in October he “would love” to meet the North Korean leader during a visit to South Korea.

Kim has also signaled a willingness to resume diplomacy with Washington, saying he has “fond memories” of Trump, while warning that any discussion of giving up his regime’s nuclear arsenal would be off the table.

Despite the prospect of renewed diplomacy, the KNDA report said engagement with Washington is unlikely to slow Pyongyang’s military buildup.

North Korea is expected to “accelerate the production of nuclear materials and the development and deployment of new missile systems” in 2026 as it works to operationalize a broader range of nuclear strike capabilities, the report said.

The academy added that a seventh nuclear test remains a “military and technological necessity,” although Pyongyang is likely to exercise restraint as it weighs the impact on its relations with China and the United States.

North Korea last conducted a nuclear test in September 2017 at its Punggye-ri site. During a period of detente with Seoul and Washington the following year, Pyongyang demolished the entrances to two test tunnels in a highly publicized move.

Those steps have since been reversed, however. The U.N. nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency said North Korea began restoring tunnels at the site in 2022, and a 2025 U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency assessment concluded the country is now “postured to conduct a seventh nuclear test at a time of its choosing.”

Prospects for inter-Korean relations remain dim, the report said, despite efforts by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to rehabilitate ties since taking office in June

Communication between Seoul and Pyongyang is unlikely to resume as the North continues to promote its “hostile two-state doctrine,” which defines the two Koreas as permanently separate adversaries.

“The likelihood of inter-Korean dialogue reopening is not high,” the report said.