North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the nation to bolster its nuclear capabilities “without limitation,” emphasizing that this policy is now “irreversible.” He also said Pyongyang would focus all efforts on completing war preparations.
Kim made these remarks during the 4th Conference of Battalion Commanders and Political Instructors of the Korean People’s Army on Nov. 15, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Nov. 18. The gathering marked the first of its kind in a decade, following the third session in 2014. The first two were held in 1953 and 2006, respectively, and were hosted by North Korea’s founding leader Kim Il Sung and former leader Kim Jong Il.
“Strengthening our nuclear force has long been an irreversible policy for us,” Kim said during his speech. “Now, the task at hand is to ensure that our nuclear force is perfectly operational, able to fulfill both its deterrence mission and secondary objectives.” He pledged to continue enhancing North Korea’s self-defense capabilities, emphasizing nuclear weapons as the core, stating this would be done “ceaselessly, without limits, and without being satisfied (with the current level).”
Kim criticized the trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the United States, and Japan as a significant threat to regional peace and stability. “The U.S.-led military alliance is expanding to include Europe and the Asia-Pacific region,” he said. “In the event of an emergency, the U.S. and allied forces could appear on the Korean Peninsula under the banner of military alliances such as NATO, rather than the United Nations.”
Kim urged North Korea’s military to gear all activities toward war preparation, stressing, “Completing war preparations is an urgent task that cannot be delayed even for a single day.” He also referred to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the U.S. and the West staging a war against Russia through Ukraine, calling it a strategic move by Washington to gain combat experience and expand military interventions globally.
However, Kim did not mention North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia to support Moscow’s war with Ukraine. Instead, he accused the U.S. of dragging more nations into prolonged conflicts by continuing to supply military aid to Ukraine and Israel.
