North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for the rapid expansion of his country’s nuclear arsenal, denouncing recent U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises as an “obvious expression of their will to provoke war,” according to state media KCNA on Tuesday.
The drills, which began this week, include tests of upgraded responses to North Korea’s nuclear threats. While Seoul and Washington insist the exercises are purely defensive, Pyongyang has historically viewed such maneuvers as rehearsals for invasion, often responding with weapons tests.
During a visit to a navy destroyer, Kim criticized the exercises as “a clear expression of stand of openly revealing their intention to remain most hostile and confrontational” toward North Korea. He emphasized that the current security environment demands the North “rapidly expand” its nuclear capabilities, highlighting the presence of a “nuclear element” in the U.S.-South Korea drills.
