North Korean leader Kim Jong Un accused the United States of increasing tensions and provocations and pointed out that the Korean Peninsula has never before faced such a risk of nuclear war, Reuters reported, citing BTA, citing the North Korean state KCTA information agency.
In a speech at a military exhibition in Pyongyang today, the North Korean leader said his previous attempts to negotiate with Washington had only shown America's “aggressive and hostile” policy towards North Korea, informs KCTA, quoted by Reuters.
„Never before have the warring countries of the Korean Peninsula faced such a dangerous and sharp confrontation that could escalate into the most destructive thermonuclear war”, Kim Jong Un said, according to the KCTA information. According to his words, quoted by the state news agency, North Korea has negotiated as much as possible with the US, but from these negotiations it has become clear that the “aggressive and hostile policy” to Pyongyang “it can never change“.
During Donald Trump's first term as US president, he held three unprecedented meetings with Kim Jong-un – in Singapore, Hanoi and the Korean border in 2018. and 2019, Reuters recalls. This diplomacy did not achieve any concrete result because of the differences between the US demands that North Korea give up its nuclear program and Kim Jong Un's demands for sanctions relief, Reuters recalls.
Trump has long touted his ties to Kim, saying last month that “we would have had a nuclear war with millions dead,” but that was averted because of their relationship. North Korean state media has yet to publicly mention Trump's re-election, Reuters notes.
In a speech at the exhibition, Kim Jong-un called for the development and modernization of weapons and promised to continue developing the country's defense capabilities to strengthen its strategic positions. The event, called the Defense Development Exhibition, showcased strategic and tactical weapons.
Kim Jong-un's latest remarks come amid international criticism of deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, with North Korea sending more than 10,000 troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Last week, Kim called on the military to improve war-fighting capabilities, accusing the US and its allies of fueling tensions to the “worst phase in history” and called the Korean Peninsula “the biggest hot spot in the world”, the agency recalls.