North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to implement the “hardest” anti-American policy, state media reported Sunday, less than a month ago. Donald Trump Takes office as US President.
Trump's return to the White House raises the prospect of high-level diplomacy with North Korea. During his first term, Trump met at least three times to discuss the North's nuclear program. However, many experts say that an early resumption of the Kim-Trump meeting is unlikely as Trump will focus first on the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts. North Korea Support for Russia's war against Ukraine also poses a challenge to efforts to restore diplomacy, experts say.
During a five-day plenary session of the ruling Workers' Party that ended Friday, Kim called the United States “the most reactionary state that regards anti-communism as its unchangeable state policy.” Kim said the US-South Korea-Japan security partnership was expanding into “a nuclear military bloc for aggression”.
“This fact clearly shows the direction we should go and what we should do and how we should do it,” Kim said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
It said Kim's speech “clarified the strongest retaliation strategy against the United States” by North Korea for its long-term national interests and security.
KCNA did not elaborate on the anti-US strategy. But it said Kim set out to increase military capability through the development of defense technology and stressed the need to improve the mental toughness of North Korean soldiers.
Previous meetings between Trump and Kim have not only ended their exchanges of fiery rhetoric and threats of destruction, but they have also forged a personal bond. Trump once famously said that he and Kim “fell in love.” But their talks eventually broke down in 2019, as they clashed over US-led sanctions on the North.
Since then, North Korea has sharply increased the pace of its weapons testing activities to develop more reliable nuclear missiles capable of targeting the United States and its allies. The US and South Korea have responded by expanding their bilateral military drills and trilateral drills involving Japan, drawing sharp criticism from the North, which views such US-led drills as an invasion exercise. .
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Further complicating efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for economic and political benefits is its deepening military cooperation with Russia.
According to US, Ukrainian and South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops and conventional weapons systems to support Moscow's war against Ukraine. There are concerns that Russia could give North Korea advanced weapons technology in return, including help to build more powerful nuclear missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that 3,000 North Korean soldiers were killed and wounded in the fighting in Russia's Kursk region. have been It was the first significant North Korean killing by Ukraine since North Korea began deploying troops to Russia in October. It was estimated.
Russia and China, locked in separate disputes with the US, have repeatedly resisted pressure from the US leadership to impose more UN sanctions on North Korea despite repeated missile tests in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. is given
Last month, Kim said his past talks with the US had only confirmed Washington's “unchanged” hostility towards his country and described its nuclear buildup as the only way to counter external threats. .
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