Kim Jong-un Announces Expanding Nuclear Weapons Program In Warning To Biden

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has launched a tough wake-up call to the US Administration to be led by Joe Biden.

Just two weeks before the Democrat is sworn in on Capitol Hill, the North Korean Supreme Leader has announced that he will continue to expand his nuclear weapons and missile program, especially his "long-range nuclear strike capability."

He has also reiterated that the world's leading power remains “the main enemy”, regardless of who is in command.

The course of relations will depend on Washington abandoning its policy of alleged hostility towards the country, Kim said.

Kim spoke for nine hours to present a work report, according to the state news agency KCNA this Saturday, on the fourth day of the Eighth Congress of the Workers' Party, the meeting that according to the North Korean Constitution is the highest decision-making body of the regime.

In this conclave of 4,500 delegates, inaugurated on Tuesday, the five-year plan that will direct the country's economy until 2025 should be addressed. The meeting was also expected to shed clues on the direction of foreign policy and the country's nuclear program.

He gave them: he made it clear that in the coming years he will continue to invest in nuclear weapons that he considers essential as a deterrent tool against the growing hostility - in his eyes - from Washington.

"Our foreign policy activities must be focused and directed to subdue and defeat the United States, our main enemy and great obstacle to our revolutionary development," he said.

"No matter who is in power in the United States, the true nature of the United States and its basic policies toward North Korea are never going to change."

Biden had described Kim Jong-un as a "bully" during the election campaign.

In turn, the North Korean official media had described the US president-elect as a "mad dog."

Although he promised not to use them if the country is not in danger of being attacked first, and left the door open for negotiation by stressing that protection measures "will never impede diplomacy," Kim insisted: "We must strengthen our capabilities defense nationals without stopping for a moment ”.

The shopping list listed by the North Korean leader is ambitious.

According to Kim, the plans include the "development of solid-fuel ICBMs" and nuclear missiles that can be launched from the sea, thus making their detection and interception more difficult.

They also foresee the construction of nuclear submarines, the jewel in the crown of the few navies that have these ships (those of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which are the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and France. ; and India).

According to KCNA, North Korea has already completed the design phase of that type of ship.

In addition, North Korean scientists will have to improve the technology for producing nuclear warheads, to make them smaller and lighter - which would facilitate their mounting on long-range missiles - while continuing to manufacture "large warheads."

According to the Arms Control Association, it is estimated that North Korea accumulated between 20 and 30 nuclear bombs in 2019 and had enough material to manufacture between 30 and 60.

Kim Jong-un also wants to achieve greater precision of this type of weapon so that it "hits and annihilates strategic objectives" within a radius of 15,000 kilometers, something that would allow it to reach any point in the continental United States.

With these references, the North Korean leader “is indicating that he wants to develop tactical nuclear weapons.

These would be a better way to stop a possible invasion than strategic nuclear weapons.

It is a logical step in the North Korean nuclear program, as is the development of the capacity to launch missiles from a submarine ”, points out Professor Ramón Pacheco Pardo, professor specialized in Korea at the Free University of Brussels and professor at King's College of London.

Kim has also called for more research and development in advanced military equipment, including hypersonic weapons - a still very fledgling area in which the United States and China are fiercely competing for leadership - spy satellites and reconnaissance drones.

"There are no more dangerous and stupid acts than not reinforcing our own capabilities while clearly seeing that our enemies develop modern weaponry," said the leader, of whom the regime unveiled for the first time this week an official portrait in military uniform.

"The reality is that we need to strengthen our national defense capabilities to neutralize the military threats from the United States and achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula," he added.

So far it is not clear how North Korea intends to meet these ambitious goals, or if any kind of deadline has been set to achieve them.

In a preview of the policy announced this Saturday, the country unveiled its largest intercontinental missile last October, of such size that it needed an 11-axis carrier vehicle.

The report, according to KCNA, also indicates that preparations are underway to "test and produce" the new equipment.

The statement appears to announce upcoming weapons tests to put pressure on Washington if the Biden administration does not resume negotiations stalled after the failure of the Hanoi summit between Kim and Donald Trump in February 2019.

“It is clear that North Korea will continue to develop its nuclear program as long as there is no agreement with the United States to stop it and begin to reverse it.

The option for the Biden administration is clear: negotiations and an agreement offering North Korea economic benefits, or seeing Pyongyang continue to develop its nuclear program.

In fact, Kim Jong-un has left the door open for negotiations in his speech.

But the price will continue to rise as long as there is no agreement ”, considers Pacheco Pardo.

The North Korean report was also critical of neighboring South Korea, for continuing military exercises with the United States and developing new weapons, although it did not close the door to dialogue either.

In Pacheco Pardo's opinion, Kim “wants South Korea to stop developing its military program and for Seoul to develop economic cooperation programs.

The former is not going to happen.

And the second would only be possible if there is an agreement between Washington and Pyongyang that includes the lifting of sanctions.

So relations will remain at a standstill for now, at least officially. "

More economic self-sufficiency

The party's congress is held at a time when North Korea is experiencing a difficult economic situation, due to international sanctions as a punishment for its nuclear program.

Added to these are the effects of the covid pandemic -although the country ensures that it has not detected a single case-, the closure of borders that Pyongyang decreed almost a year ago to combat the virus, which has paralyzed its foreign trade, and the consequences of the severe floods last year.

In inaugurating the Congrego, Kim recognized the failure of the previous five-year plan, which failed to meet almost any of its goals.

In his speech, the North Korean supreme leader called for an economy more self-sufficient and less dependent on foreign imports in the next five-year plan.

And although five years ago, in the previous Congress, he proclaimed the "byungjin" strategy, the simultaneous development of the economy and the nuclear program, throughout this meeting it has not given - nor was it expected - any sign that it contemplates a greater opening of the economy.