North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his previous efforts for dialogue and diplomacy could not change US hostility toward his country.
“We had explored every path we can with the US through dialogue. The only outcome that can come from it, I am convinced, is the superpower’s implacable logic of force and unchanging policy of hostility toward our country,” Kim was quoted saying in the Workers’ Party of Korea-affiliated newspaper Rodong Simun on Friday.
Kim has yet to officially comment on the reelection of former US President Donald Trump, who on the campaign trail had claimed the North Korean leader “misses” him. Over his first term, Trump held three summits with Kim but failed ultimately to reach a deal.
Kim’s speech was delivered Thursday during the opening ceremony of a defense exhibition, which featured strategic weapons such as intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of targeting the US mainland.
The North Korean leader said a strong military capable of overwhelming the enemy was the “only guarantee for peace, stability and growth,” calling for modernizing and upgrading weaponry.
“As long as forces that violate our sovereignty exist, we must continue to renew and modernize our arsenal as dictated by the security environment surrounding us,” he said.
Kim then blamed the US for the “state of extremity that the Korean Peninsula is in today.” He said the US expanding military cooperation with allies in the region was responsible for the Korean Peninsula “facing an unprecedented confrontation that can escalate into a thermonuclear war.”
His speech comes amid international criticism of Pyongyang supplying weapons and troops to Moscow to aid war efforts against Ukraine.
