North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said on Monday that he believes his country’s nuclear arsenal will ensure that it never has to fight wars again and guarantee its safety from “imperialist and hostile forces”.
“With our reliable and effective self-defensive nuclear deterrent, there will be no more war on this earth, and our country’s safety and future will be secured forever,” Kim said in a speech, as he celebrated the 67th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, with a reception for veterans, the official KCNA news agency reported.
The speech came amidst stalled talks aimed to push Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear and ballistic missile programs in exchange for sanctions relief from Washington. Though the two nations’ leaders met over three summits in 2018, ushering in a wave of hope about refining their relationship, links between them have rapidly deteriorated since Kim Jong-un’s talks with US President Donald Trump collapsed last year with no agreement regarding denuclearization or easing UN sanctions on the country. Kim’s Monday remarks served as an important reminder of just how difficult it is going to be to get North Korea to abandon a program it deems as fundamental to its survival.
“Bearing in mind that we should have a strong power to safeguard the fate of our country and people, we will never stop honing the most powerful national defense capacity that cannot be matched by anyone else,” the North Korean leader said. “We have become a country that can strongly and reliably protect ourselves against any type of high-intensity pressure and military threats and blackmail. War is a military conflict with somebody who can be matchable. Now nobody can underestimate us anymore. If so, it will have to pay prices dearly,” he added.
This was the first time Kim delivered an address at the anniversary celebration since 2015. Observers have noted that the speech and the event was an attempt to rally North Koreans around a common cause and strengthen unity, as the country continues to deal with heightened economic pressure and isolation, and crippling sanctions amid the coronavirus pandemic. In recent months, Pyongyang has also increased pressure on Seoul, as friction between the neighbors has come to a head over defector activity, thereby stalling any reconciliation efforts. The two Koreas still technically remain at war since the Korean war ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
Tensions may continue to escalate between the two states as the North deals with the arrival of COVID-19 into its borders, allegedly by the return of a defector from the South. South Korean officials confirmed on Monday that a 24-year old who had defected from the North had secretly returned to North Korea, but did not say whether he might have carried the virus across the border. Kim Jong-un imposed a lockdown in the border city of Kaesong on Sunday and was said to have ordered a “maximum emergency system” to contain the virus.
Kim Jong-un Says Nuclear Weapons Will Guarantee National Security
He said nuclear weapons were a “reliable and effective” deterrent that could prevent war.
July 28, 2020
North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un SOURCE: SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST