Kaesong Heights in North Korea, viewed from Peace House on the South Korea side of the Joint Security Area. (Brendan Trembath/U.N. Command)
North Korea’s leader said his country will expand its nuclear arsenal and accelerate development of advanced weapons systems, including a 10,000-ton strategic guided missile cruiser, according to state-run media on Tuesday.
Kim Jong Un ordered his country’s defense capabilities strengthened “without pause” with the goal of “overtaking the world,” the Korean Central News Agency reported.
The North Korean leader spoke during the plenary meeting Saturday through Monday of the ruling Workers’ Party.
Steadily expanding the country’s nuclear forces is the most effective way to cope with “unpredictable international military” and political situations, according to KCNA.
Kim specifically said the nation will accelerate its plans to build a 10,000-ton strategic guided missile cruiser, a decision made April 4, according to the report. It provided no additional details about the cruiser.
KCNA framed the nuclear expansion plans as a response to what it called increasingly aggressive U.S.-South Korean military cooperation.
The report highlighted moves by Washington and Seoul to expand joint exercises, modernize their armed forces and use the Nuclear Consultative Group to prepare for a potential conflict with North Korea.
The group is a bilateral U.S.-South Korea consulting body established in 2023 to strengthen deterrence, coordinate nuclear and strategic planning and address North Korea’s nuclear threats.
The group has drawn up “detailed nuclear war scenarios including war mode, sequence of missions, drills and operation elements,” the KCNA report states. “This clearly proves the criminal nature of the body pushing the situation in the Korean peninsula to the brink of a nuclear war.”
KCNA described South Korea’s efforts to acquire nuclear submarines as an “undisguised” move toward modernizing its armed forces against the North and “extremely aggravating the situation in the Korean Peninsula.”
South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a text message request for comment on Tuesday.
