SEOUL – North Korea’s Foreign Ministry announced on February 18 that it will continue to strengthen its nuclear force, denouncing a recent joint pledge by the United States, South Korea, and Japan for its denuclearisation, according to state media KCNA.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya held talks on February 15 on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich. They issued a statement reaffirming their commitment to North Korea’s complete denuclearisation.
Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry criticised the countries for pursuing an “outdated, absurd” plan, warning against what it called “foolish acts inciting collective hostility and conflicts.” An unnamed ministry spokesperson stated, “As long as the US and its vassal forces’ hostile threat exists, the DPRK’s nukes are means for defending peace and sovereignty and a means for legitimate self-defence entrusted by the constitution of the state,” vowing to continue strengthening its nuclear force.
The spokesperson referred to North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry urged North Korea to cease its illicit weapons programmes and return to the path of denuclearisation. “North Korea will never be recognised as a nuclear weapons state,” ministry spokesman Lee Jae-woong said during a briefing. “We hope that it will realise that the development of nuclear weapons and missiles will only hinder its own security and economic development.”
The three-way meeting was the first since the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, who held unprecedented summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first term and has touted their personal rapport.
South Korean lawmakers, after being briefed by the National Intelligence Service, indicated that Pyongyang’s recent missile tests were partly intended to “show off its US deterrent assets and draw Trump’s attention.”
In a related development, South Korea’s military announced on February 18 the deployment of a domestically developed new bunker buster missile named the Korean Tactical Surface to Surface Missile (KTSSM). The missile, nicknamed Ure, which means thunder in Korean, is capable of conducting simultaneous, precision strikes in a short span of time against North Korea’s long-range artillery systems that could threaten the greater Seoul area in the event of a contingency, according to a military press release.