In comments released on Saturday, Kim said North Korea was continuing to arm itself to deter the United States, comments that apparently show President Donald Trump’s strategy of high engagement with Pyongyang – including three historic personal meetings between Trump and Kim – did not convince Pyongyang to stop his pursuit of a modern nuclear arsenal.
“No matter who is in power in the US, the true nature and true spirit of the policy against North Korea will never change,” Kim said according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“The development of nuclear weapons is being pushed forward without interruption.”
According to Kim, the projects are in different stages of development. He said that ‘multiple-headed conduction technology’ is in the final stages, while studies in hypersonic flight applicable to new ballistic missiles have been ‘completed’, with North Korea ‘preparing for their test and production’ – ‘ a possible sign that Pyongyang is possibly on the verge of resuming the kind of missile test anathema to Washington and Seoul.
Improvements in tactical nuclear weapons – which are meant to be used at shorter distances and are often less destructive than strategic nuclear weapons – are also being finalized, Kim said. Nuclear-powered submarine research appears to be the least. The investigation into these topics has been completed and is in “the final phase of the investigation”, Kim said.
Experts believe that the Kim regime has long sought these technologies to improve the quality and durability of its nuclear weapons. A nuclear-powered submarine is particularly useful from a deterrent perspective because it will improve North Korea’s “second strike” capability – the ability to survive an initial nuclear attack by an adversary and respond in kind.
“I would not even expect a prototype nuclear reactor in North Korea, but their interest in the technology is not surprising,” said Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an expert on North Korea. -Korea’s nuclear program, said.
Panda said Kim’s interest in tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons makes sense, although it could be ‘very inefficient in the use of divisible materials’, which North Korea cannot easily find.
“North Korea’s interest in these weapons is not surprising from a strategic point of view – it exacerbates Kim’s preferred nuclear strategy quite well,” said Panda, author of “Kim Jong Un and the Bomb: Survival and Deterrence in North,” . Korea. ‘
Panda said North Korea probably wants these tactical nuclear weapons to combat a potential conventional domestic invasion. In this way, Kim can retain its strategic nuclear weapons at a longer distance “for retaliation against the US and civilian centers in Japan and South Korea if the US and allies continue after initial nuclear use.”
“Kim’s interest in tactical nuclear weapons is very much like that of Pakistan: use it early on to break down mobilization by a conventional better neighbor,” he said.
Kim’s comments were made to the country’s leading political leaders, who gathered in Pyongyang for the Eighth Congress of the Labor Party – a high-level meeting in which the country’s governors meet to reflect on years of successes and failures and a set an agenda for the future. These meetings are usually held every five years, but Kim’s father and predecessor – Kim Jong Il – stopped holding them after 1980. Kim Jong Un revived it in 2016.
North Korea’s young economy is probably the most important item on the local agenda. Kim admitted in August that his economic plans devised by the Seventh Workers’ Party had failed, and promised to do better. However, sanctions, natural disasters and the Covid-19 pandemic have driven the North Korean economy into a free fall, and experts are not sure how things can improve without major reforms.
Kim’s plans to develop his nuclear arsenal and modernize his conventional arsenal were the biggest part of the address. He promised that North Korea would be a responsible nuclear power committed to a policy for nuclear weapons not used for the first time.
“As a responsible nuclear power, North Korea will not abuse nuclear weapons unless invading enemy forces try to use them,” Kim said.
While Kim said the continued build-up of nuclear and conventional weapons did not preclude “diplomacy”, he warned opponents against “attempts to violate the country’s highest interests and dignity”.
The comments, which are directed at the United States, are the first of Kim’s publicly addressed to President-elect Joe Biden, suggesting that Pyongyang may not be keen to enter into negotiations in the first days of the new government not.
Kim said that the key to establishing a new relationship between North Korea and the United States required the US to end its ‘hostility policy’ towards Pyongyang, which North Korea often defines as Washington’s alliance with South Korea. its commitment to protect South Korea under the US ‘. nuclear umbrella, “and the deployment of US power in East Asia.
However, Biden has made it clear that his foreign policy strategy will include strengthening ties with allies who are feeling abandoned by Trump, who sees the partnerships as transactional.
The South Korean Ministry of Unification has said Seoul will not change its policy on denial or inter-Korean peace in response to Kim’s comments.
“South Korea hopes to resume talks between North Korea and the United States as soon as the start of a new government,” the ministry said in a statement.
But the Biden government could be forced to deal with it sooner than it pleases, as North Korea conducted challenging mission tests during the first 100 days of both the Trump and Obama administration.