Kim Jong Un Accuses US of Global 'Gangsterism', Declares Nuclear Expansion as Only Answer

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has asserted that strengthening his country’s position as a nuclear-armed state is the only way to confront an increasingly unpredictable and complex global security situation. According to state media KCNA, Kim accused the United States of acting like a ‘gangster’ and being the driving force behind escalating bloodshed in Europe and the Middle East.

Speaking at a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, Kim charged that the US and South Korea are deliberately making the security situation on the Korean Peninsula far more dangerous by enhancing their combined nuclear posture, which he claimed is purely aimed at attacking the North. ‘Continuously expanding and strengthening the nuclear forces and fully carrying out the position of a nuclear-armed state is the most correct and unique way to actively and confidently face the unpredictable international military and political situation,’ the KCNA report stated, though it provided no specific details on new weapons plans.

Beyond nuclear matters, Kim ordered officials to continue boosting conventional weapons production and to accelerate the construction of a 10,000-ton strategic guided missile cruiser. Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, interpreted the speech as underlining Pyongyang’s persistent rejection of denuclearisation. He noted that North Korea now insists on being recognised as a legitimate nuclear power and is only willing to negotiate on an equal footing regarding arms control, not disarmament. Yang added that the regime’s references to the US-South Korea Nuclear Consultative Group and Seoul’s nuclear submarine ambitions serve as justification for Pyongyang’s own nuclear build-up. The party meeting also addressed the modernisation of the coal industry and the reconstruction of mining communities, which Kim described as a strategic priority to alleviate the country’s chronic energy shortages.