Sept. 17 (Reuters) – North Korea’s Deputy Minister of Defense said on Thursday that the growing U.S.-led military reinforcement and what he called the expanding nuclear alliance among Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo justify Pyongyang’s efforts to strengthen and expand its nuclear forces.
Speaking at the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing — China’s main international security conference — Deputy Defense Minister Kim Kang Il said that North Korea’s status as a nuclear power is irreversible and promised to continue expanding its nuclear arsenal.
“The incessant increase in the nuclear armament of the enemy states fully justifies the construction of a solid nuclear shield for the DPRK,” Kim said, using the acronym for the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“As the enemy states’ nuclear threat reaches an extreme level… the DPRK will firmly defend peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, continuously expanding and strengthening its self-defense nuclear deterrent.”
Kim attributed the tensions on the Korean Peninsula to what he called Washington’s unwavering hostile policy toward North Korea and accused the United States of turning trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan into a nuclear alliance.
He stated that the constitutional status of North Korea as a nuclear power is a “line in the sand” and urged other countries to abandon what he called the “impossible dream” of denuclearization.
Kim’s participation in the Xiangshan Forum marked a rare high-level North Korean appearance at an international security gathering in recent years and occurred at a time when Pyongyang seeks closer ties with Beijing amid tensions with Washington and its allies.
Asked about the possibility of a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Kim said he was not in a position to discuss whether such a summit could occur.
