North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sunday hinted at “secret weapons” and touted the country’s advancing military capabilities in a speech to the nation’s parliament.
Why It Matters
The strongman ruler delivered his remarks during a rare sitting of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly—an event closely watched for new policy signals, legislative changes and insights into the Kim regime’s strategic intentions.
Tensions remain high on the Korean Peninsula amid Pyongyang’s continued development of nuclear and ballistic missile programs prohibited by the United Nations. Kim’s government says the weapons are for self-defense, blaming “provocative” military cooperation between the United States and its treaty allies South Korea and Japan.
Newsweek reached out to the North Korean embassy in Beijing, China, and to the White House via emailed requests for comment.
What To Know
Kim told North Korea’s lawmakers that the nation was “making unremitting leaps and bounds in strengthening the country’s defense capability.”
“We have acquired new secret weapons and achieved considerable results in defense science and research that will greatly contribute to a further radical leap forward in our military capabilities,” he said, according to a transcript published on Monday by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Kim did not offer details about these new weapons. He also praised progress in modernizing North Korea’s modest navy, calling the launch of two destroyers this year a “major step” toward becoming a maritime power.
Kim accused the U.S. and its allies of “adventurous” military actions that have raised the risk of nuclear confrontation, calling the security situation “more severe than ever.”
He used the occasion to double down on nuclear and missile development and dismissed denuclearization efforts, vowing they would not succeed “even after 100 years.”
However, Kim said North Korea was prepared to pursue “peaceful coexistence” with the U.S. if it dropped what he called its “absurd obsession with denuclearization.”
As Pyongyang continues to expand both its nuclear and conventional arsenals, U.S. and allied officials believe North Korea has acquired advanced Russian military technology in exchange for supplying munitions and troops for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
South Korean officials have cited intelligence that Russia, which signed a new military agreement with North Korea last year, has agreed to provide Pyongyang with fighter jets and nuclear submarine technology.
Kim’s comments come as South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung expressed willingness to accept a deal that would allow the North to temporarily freeze its nuclear program rather than immediately start the denuclearization process.
What People Have Said
Lee Jae Myung, South Korean president, told the BBC: “The question is whether to insist on the fruitless final goal [denuclearization], or to set a more realistic goal and achieve at least part of it.”
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters last month: “I get along with him really well. I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong Un in the appropriate future.”
What’s Next
U.S. President Donald Trump, who met with Kim three times during his first term in a failed push for denuclearization, has said he is open to another summit with the 41-year-old leader.
It remains unclear whether Trump will reconsider Washington’s longstanding demand for denuclearization, however.