SEOUL, South Korea (AP) 鈥� of North Korean leader called a U.S. push for the denuclearization of North Korea an 鈥渁nachronistic dream,鈥� saying Sunday the North will steadily expand its nuclear arsenal in the face of U.S.-led threats.
The statement came a day before Chinese President visits North Korea for talks with Kim Jong Un, in his first visit to the country in seven years.
鈥淭he U.S. assertion to backbite the status of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state has no legally binding force and no one will be bound by the U.S. unilateral rhetoric,鈥� said Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, using the abbreviation for North Korea鈥檚 official name.
She dismissed as 鈥渇alse information鈥� a U.S. announcement that President Donald Trump and Xi confirmed their shared goal to denuclearize North Korea in their last month.
鈥淪ome officials in the United States have failed to wake from their escapist and anachronistic dream,鈥� Kim Yo Jong said.
North Korea has been focusing on enlarging its nuclear arsenal since Kim Jong Un’s high-stakes diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019. Experts say the North Korean leader wants an international recognition as so that he could demand lifting of international economic sanctions on North Korea.
During a visit to a new last week, Kim Jong Un said North Korea would bolster the country鈥檚 nuclear forces 鈥渁t an exponential rate.鈥� On Sunday, North Korea’s state media reported Kim Jong Un visited a weapons factory the previous day and called for increasing the country’s missile production capacity 2.5 times under a five-year plan period.
In her statement, Kim Yo Jong accused the U.S. and South Korea of pushing for 鈥渃easeless arms build-ups,” saying her brother’s push for 鈥渟teadily beefing up the nuclear war deterrent for self-defense鈥� is 鈥渁n irreversible final conclusion to be carried out unconditionally.鈥�
Analysts say Xi’s visit to North Korea is largely meant to reassert China’s influence over North Korea, whose foreign policy priority has shifted to in recent years. They say Xi will likely refrain from directly raising the denuclearization issue and offer economic assistance programs during his meeting with Kim Jong Un.
North Korea has sent troops and conventional weapons to Russia to back its war efforts against Ukraine. South Korean and U.S. officials say North Korea has received economic and other assistance from Russia in return.
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