Kim Jong-un just gave a fresh nuclear speech, vowing that North Korea will expand its atomic arsenal in both scale and sophistication, and that this is necessary given pressure from nuclear-armed “imperialist” superpowers like the United States.
Kim presented the strategy during a weeklong congress of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, declaring that his country’s nuclear-armed status is “irreversible and permanent” (though not for the first time).
He pledged that Pyongyang will continue to strengthen its arsenal “as long as nuclear weapons exist on the earth” and as long as the country faces threats from “US imperialists and their followers,” according to state media on Thursday.
“We have a long-term plan to strengthen the national nuclear force on an annual basis in the future and will concentrate on increasing the number of nuclear weapons and expanding the means and space for nuclear operation,” Kim stated.
Kim earlier warned during a military parade in the capital on Wednesday that North Korea would “deliver terrible retaliatory attacks to any forces” that infringe on the country.
He further signaled Washington that he’s able to offer either “peaceful coexistence” or “eternal confrontation” and that the choice is on America – whether it wants to remain a hostile force in the world or not.
The Washington Post, commenting on these latest remarks out of North Korea, calls Kim “emboldened”:
In the seven years since President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walked away from nuclear negotiations, Kim’s nuclear ambitions and weapons arsenal have only grown more potent. This week, Kim left room for restarting talks with Washington — but only on his own terms.
But what WaPo fails to acknowledge or grasp is that so long as Washington is going around the world conducting regime change operations against countries which never attacked the United States, it incentivizes rival nations to go nuclear, or to quickly expand existing arsenals.
‘Rogue’ actors like Kim look at the world and see the US mounting its biggest military buildup in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq invasion. The target is Iran, which doesn’t yet have nukes, and so is essentially defenseless (when it comes down to it, despite conventional ballistic missiles).
More immediately, North Korea feels threatened by the growing joint US war games just south of the demilitarized zone, in South Korea – where over the past several years nuclear submarines have been docked.
Leaders like Kim can only conclude that the way to ensure against attack by the United States is to be a formidable nuclear power. This is the sad reality in a post-Cold War, nuclear world.
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