North Korea vows nuclear expansion amid US policy dispute

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to permanently cement his country's status as a nuclear power and rejected all calls for denuclearization. Speaking to central committee members following an unprecedented four-day policy meeting, Kim stated that there will never be denuclearization in the Korean peninsula if the United States continues its "hostile policies" against the regime. Kim accused the United States of failing to provide "appropriate measures" after North Korea took preemptive steps to halt nuclear tests and ICBM test fires and shut down its nuclear test ground.

He claimed the U.S. responded instead with joint military drills and the shipment of ultra-modern warfare equipment into South Korea. In response, Pyongyang announced it would develop new strategic weapons for its own defense until a lasting peace-keeping mechanism is established. Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, noted that North Korea's new strategic weapon might not be ready and that the regime may focus on sanctions evasion rather than sanctions relief.

Cheong Seong-Chang of the Sejong Institute described the move as a new direction to enhance the country's nuclear and missile capabilities while accepting stalled negotiations. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense is introducing a bill to codify the country's commitment to not seek nuclear weapons amid its development of a nuclear-powered attack submarine. North Korea views negotiations based on nuclear freezes or arms control as unlikely to succeed and refuses to engage unless the definition of is fu...

Analysts suggest the change in format from a traditional New Year broadcast to reports at a plenary meeting may indicate an effort to buy time. Meanwhile, the opposition conservative bloc has discussed independent armament, though President Lee Jae Myung previously dismissed such ideas as u...