The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described the US push to denuclearize North Korea as an “outdated dream,” saying on Sunday that North Korea would steadily expand its nuclear arsenal in the face of US-led threats.
This statement came a day before Chinese President Xi Jinping visited North Korea to hold talks with Kim Jong Un, in his first visit to the country in seven years.
“The US assertion of absence from the DPRK’s status as a nuclear weapons state has no legally binding force and no one will abide by the US’ unilateral rhetoric,” said Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s official name.
She dismissed as “false information” the US announcement that President Trump and Xi affirmed their common goal of denuclearizing North Korea at their summit in Beijing last month.
“Some officials in the United States have failed to wake up from their outdated evasive dream,” Kim Yo Jong said.
North Korea has been focused on expanding its nuclear arsenal since Kim Jong Un’s high-stakes diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019.
Experts say that the North Korean leader wants international recognition as a nuclear state so that he can demand the lifting of international economic sanctions imposed on North Korea.
During a visit to a new nuclear materials production plant last week, Kim Jong Un said North Korea would strengthen the country’s nuclear forces at a “tremendous rate.”
North Korean state media reported on Sunday that Kim Jong Un visited a weapons factory the day before and called for increasing the country’s missile production capacity 2.5 times as part of a five-year plan.
In her statement, Kim Yo Jong accused the United States and South Korea of pushing for “unstoppable weapons accumulation,” saying her brother’s quest to “continuously strengthen the deterrence of nuclear war in self-defense” is “an irreversible end result that must be implemented unconditionally.”
Analysts say Xi’s visit to North Korea is largely aimed at reasserting China’s influence over North Korea, whose foreign policy priorities have shifted to Russia in recent years.
They say Xi is likely to refrain from directly raising the issue of denuclearization and offer economic aid programs during his meeting with Kim Jong Un.
North Korea has sent troops and conventional weapons to Russia to support its war efforts against Ukraine.
South Korean and American officials say North Korea received economic and other assistance from Russia in return.