As U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is about to be sworn in, North Korean official media reported on Saturday (9) a speech by Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, describing the U.S. as North Korea’s “greatest enemy” and proposing the expansion of nuclear armaments and the introduction of more and more advanced nuclear weapons, adding that North Korea’s plan to build a nuclear submarine is nearing completion. According to analyst Panda of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Kim Jong Un’s speech signals that North Korea may resume nuclear testing.
The U.S.-North Korea relationship has been on and off in recent years, with incumbent President Donald Trump, who will soon leave office, having a historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on the inter-Korean border at Panmunjom on June 30, 2019, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to set foot on North Korean territory. Kim Jong-un also invited Trump to cross the “38th parallel”, the military demarcation line between the two Koreas, into North Korean territory. Kim Jong-un praised Trump’s entry into North Korean territory as “a very brave and determined move.”
Trump also thanked Kim Jong Un, saying they have a friendly relationship and that “we’ve liked each other since the first day we met.” During the meeting, both sides expressed their willingness to continue dialogue and improve bilateral relations. Trump and had publicly invited Kim Jong Un to be a guest at the U.S. White House.
But the dense moon phase of U.S.-North Korea relations can only be short-lived, as Kim Jong Un recently addressed a meeting of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, noting that the U.S. hostile policies toward North Korea will not change no matter who is in the U.S. White House, and that abandoning those hostile policies is the key to improving relations between the two sides.
In a speech delivered over several days and lasting nine hours in total, Kim Jong Un said, “Our foreign political activities should be targeted and reoriented to deter the United States, our biggest enemy and an obstacle to our innovative development,” the official KCNA news agency reported. Kim Jong Un vowed that North Korea would expand relations with anti-imperialist and independent forces. He also said that North Korea would not “misuse” nuclear weapons, but that the country would expand its nuclear armament, including “pre-emptive” and “retaliatory” attack capabilities and warheads of different sizes.
He also suggested that efforts would be made to develop other armaments, such as hypersonic weapons, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, spy satellites and drones. He is also preparing to test and produce different new weapons, including “multi-warhead rockets” and supersonic glide warheads mounted on new ballistic rockets.
Before the historic meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un at the 38th parallel, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, two former U.S. presidents, visited North Korea and were received by Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, the then Supreme Leader of North Korea, respectively. But both visited North Korea after they left office and never set foot in the DMZ.
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