North Korean leader calls for expanded nuclear forces to counter US threats

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has renewed his call for a “limitless” expansion of his military nuclear programme to counter US-led threats.

His comments, reported on Monday, were his first direct criticism toward Washington since Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election.

At a conference with army officials on Friday, Mr Kim condemned the United States for updating its nuclear deterrence strategies with South Korea and solidifying three-way military cooperation involving Japan, which he portrayed as an “Asian Nato” that was escalating tensions and instability in the region.

He also criticised the United States over its support of Ukraine against a prolonged Russian invasion. He insisted Washington and its Western allies were using Ukraine as their “shock troops” to wage a war against Moscow and expand the scope of US military influence, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Mr Kim has prioritised his country’s ties to Russia in recent months, embracing the idea of a “new Cold War” and displaying a united front in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s broader conflicts with the West.

He has used Russia’s war on Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate the development of his nuclear-armed military, which now has various nuclear-capable systems targeting South Korea and intercontinental ballistic missiles that can potentially reach the US mainland.

Mr Kim has yet to directly acknowledge that he has been providing military equipment and troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine and the KCNA’s report did not mention whether he made any comments towards President-elect Trump, whose election win has yet to be reported in the North’s state media.

The pair met three times in 2018 and 2019 during Mr Trump’s first presidency, but their diplomacy quickly collapsed over disagreements in exchanging the release of US-led sanctions and North Korean steps to wind down its nuclear and missile programme.

North Korea has since suspended any meaningful talks with Washington and Seoul as Mr Kim ramped up his testing activity and military demonstrations in the face of what he portrayed as “gangster-like US threats”.

There are concerns in Seoul that Mr Kim, in exchange for his military support of Russia, would receive Russian technology in return to further develop his arsenal.

Mr Trump’s election win has touched off speculation about a resumption of a summit-driven diplomacy with Mr Kim, which was described by critics as a “bromance”.

But some experts say a quick return to 2018 is highly unlikely, as too much has changed about the regional security situation and broader geopolitics since then.

While the North Korean nuclear problem was relatively an independent issue during Mr Trump’s first term, it is now connected with broader challenges created by Russia’s war on Ukraine and further complicated by weakened sanctions enforcement against Pyongyang, Hwang Ildo, a professor at South Korea’s National Diplomatic Academy, wrote in a study last week.

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programme is now much more advanced, which would increase Mr Kim’s perception of his bargaining powers.

Mr Kim’s efforts to boost North Korea’s presence in a united front against Washington could also gain strength if Mr Trump spikes tariffs and rekindles a trade war with China, the North’s main ally and economic lifeline, Prof Hwang said.

Amid the stalemate in larger nuclear negotiations with Washington, Mr Kim has been dialling up pressure on South Korea, abandoning his country’s long-standing goal of inter-Korean reconciliation and verbally threatening to attack the South with nuclear weapons if provoked.

Mr Kim has also engaged in psychological and electronic warfare against South Korea, such as flying thousands of balloons to drop rubbish in the South and disrupting GPS signals from border areas near the South’s biggest airport.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea again flew rubbish-laden balloons towards the South early on Monday and issued a statement warning the North “not to test our military’s patience any further”.

The North has launched about 7,000 balloons towards the South since May, causing property damage but so far no injuries.

On at least two occasions, rubbish carried by North Korea’s balloons fell on Seoul’s presidential compound, raising concerns about the vulnerability of key sites.