North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to implement the “harshest” anti-US policies, state media reported on Sunday, less than a month ago. Donald Trump takes office as President of the United States.
Trump’s return to the White House paves the way for high-level diplomacy with North Korea. During his first term, Trump met with Kim three times to discuss North Korea’s nuclear program. Many experts, however, say a quick resumption of the Kim-Trump summit is unlikely, as Trump would first focus on conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. North Korea Support for Russia’s war against Ukraine also poses a challenge to efforts to revive diplomacy, experts say.
During a five-day plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party that ended Friday, Kim called the United States “the most reactionary state that regards anti-communism as its invariable state policy.” “. Kim said the security partnership between the United States, South Korea and Japan was expanding toward “a nuclear military bloc of aggression.”
“This reality clearly shows in which direction we should move forward, what we should do and how,” Kim said, according to the official Korean News Agency.
He said Kim’s speech “clarified the toughest anti-US counterattack strategy to be launched aggressively” by North Korea for its long-term national interests and security.
KCNA did not provide details on the anti-US strategy. But it said Kim set out tasks to boost military capacity through advances in defense technology and stressed the need to improve the mental toughness of North Korean soldiers.
Previous meetings between Trump and Kim not only ended their exchanges of fiery rhetoric and threats of destruction, but also forged personal bonds. Trump once said he and Kim “fell in love.” But their talks ultimately broke down in 2019, as they argued over U.S.-imposed sanctions on the North.
North Korea has since sharply accelerated the pace of its weapons testing activities to build more reliable nuclear missiles targeting the United States and its allies. The United States and South Korea have responded by expanding bilateral and trilateral military exercises involving Japan, drawing sharp criticism from the North, which views the U.S.-led drills as rehearsals for invasion.
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Deepening military cooperation with Russia further complicates efforts to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for economic and political benefits.
According to estimates by the United States, Ukraine and South Korea, North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops and conventional weapons systems to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine. Some fear that Russia could offer North Korea advanced weapons technology in return, including help in building more powerful nuclear missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that 3,000 North Korean troops had been killed and wounded in fighting in Russia’s Kursk region. This is Ukraine’s first significant estimate of North Korean casualties since North Korean troops began deploying to Russia in October.
Russia and China, locked in separate disputes with the United States, have repeatedly blocked U.S.-led efforts to impose more U.N. sanctions on North Korea, despite its tests of repeated missiles in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
Last month, Kim said his past negotiations with the United States had only confirmed Washington’s “immutable” hostility toward his country and described its nuclear development as the only way to counter external threats.
© 2024 The Canadian Press