Kim Jong Un vows to boost North Korea’s nuclear capability as leverage with Biden
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, vowed to advance his country’s nuclear capabilities, declaring that it will build land- and submarinelaunched solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as make its nuclear missiles smaller, lighter and more precise, the North’s state media reported on Saturday.
Kim’s declaration comes as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office, succeeding President Donald Trump. Kim and
Trump met three times, but their meetings failed to produce a breakthrough in either ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program or lifting devastating sanctions the United Nations has imposed on the country for its weapons activities.
But despite his pledge to advance his country’s arsenal, Kim, speaking to the congress of his ruling Workers’ Party, said he did “not rule out diplomacy.” He said his effort to strengthen his country’s weapons capability was designed to gain leverage in dealing with Washington and its allies in order to “drive diplomacy in the right direction and guarantee its success” in achieving “peace” on the Korean Peninsula.
He said he would adjust his policy according to that of the incoming Biden administration, “responding to force with force, and to good will with good will.”
“Our external political activities must focus on controlling and subjugating the United States, our archenemy and the biggest stumbling block to the development of our revolution,” Kim said. “No matter who takes power in the United States, its true nature and its policy toward our country will never change.”
Kim’s comments, carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency early Saturday, marked his first official reaction to the election of Biden to replace Trump.
Kim and Trump started their relationship with a blistering exchange of personal insults and threats of “fire and fury.” Then they made a dramatic switch to diplomacy, meeting in Singapore in 2018 in the firstever summit meeting between the two nations. Trump later said he “fell in love” with the North Korean dictator, who once called him a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard.”
During his report to the party congress, Kim laid out plans for making his nuclear weapons “small and light,” as well as continuing to build “superlarge nuclear warheads,” the North Korean news agency said.
He also ordered his country to improve the precision of its intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as to develop long-range solidfuel ballistic missiles launched from land and submarines. And he instructed his military to build a nuclear-powered submarine.
Solid-fuel and submarinelaunched missiles are considered harder to detect for preemptive strikes, and North Korea has conducted numerous tests in recent years in an attempt to convert many of its shorterrange missiles from liquid to solid fuel.
It remains unclear how fast North Korea can achieve the ambitious weapons-development goals Kim has set.
When North Korea testlaunched the Hwasong-15 in late 2017, it claimed the missile could reach any part of the continental United States carrying a nuclear warhead. Although North Korea flight-tested three intercontinental ballistics , all in 2017, it has yet to demonstrate whether it has the technology needed to protect a nuclear warhead during atmospheric reentry, and deliver the weapon to its target.
The party congress, the biggest political event in North Korea, was being closely watched by outside analysts for clues on how Kim may calibrate his policy toward Washington under the Biden administration.
Since his diplomacy with Trump collapsed, Kim has refrained from resuming nuclear or long-range missile tests. He appeared to wait out the November election in the United
States, deciding not to provoke Trump, who has repeatedly touted his special “personal relationship” with the North Korean dictator.
When North Korea held its last party congress, in 2016, it was the first such gathering in 36 years and was Kim’s major comingout event as leader.
There, he adopted his ambitious five-year goals, promising to build a “great socialist country” by 2020 that would have both a nuclear arsenal and a growing economy.