{"id":43024,"date":"2026-02-26T12:31:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T06:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=43024"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:31:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T06:46:02","slug":"north-korea-warns-it-could-destroy-south-if-threatened-but-leaves-door-open-for-us-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/north-korea-warns-it-could-destroy-south-if-threatened-but-leaves-door-open-for-us-dialogue\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea warns it could destroy South if threatened, but leaves door open for US dialogue"},"content":{"rendered":"
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un claimed his nuclear-armed country could \u201ccompletely destroy\u201d South Korea if its security were threatened, reiterating his refusal to engage with Seoul, state media said Thursday. However, he left the door open to dialogue with Washington as he concluded a ruling party congress outlining his policy goals for the next five years.<\/p>\n

Kim in recent years has sharpened his rhetoric toward Seoul and underscored his rejection of inter-Korean diplomacy. Experts say that most likely doesn’t presage military clashes, but is intended to advance a broader effort to assert a more forceful regional role backed by Kim’s nuclear arsenal and ties with Moscow and Beijing.<\/p>\n

The official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim also called for developing new weapons systems to bolster his nuclear-armed military, including intercontinental ballistic missiles that could be launched from underwater and an expanded arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons, such as artillery and short-range missiles, targeting South Korea.<\/p>\n

He said the accelerated development of his nuclear and missile program in recent years \u201cpermanently cemented\u201d the country\u2019s status as a nuclear weapons state, and called for the United States to discard what he perceives as \u201chostile\u201d policies toward the North if it wants to resume long-stalled dialogue.<\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s Unification Ministry said it was regrettable that the North continues to define inter-Korean relations as hostile and that Seoul will \u201cpatiently\u201d pursue efforts to stabilize peace.<\/p>\n

The Workers\u2019 Party congress, which began last Thursday in Pyongyang, is the country’s most important political event. KCNA said the North staged a military parade in the capital Wednesday as it wrapped up the congress, previously held in 2016 and 2021.<\/p>\n

Watching the parade with his increasingly prominent daughter \u2014 believed to be around 13 years old and named Kim Ju Ae \u2014 Kim Jong Un in a speech said his forces were capable of \u201cimmediately and thoroughly retaliating\u201d against any hostile threat. But the state outlet did not immediately say whether he showcased his largest weapons, including ICBMs potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.<\/p>\n

– Kim calls for US to discard \u2018hostile\u2019 policy –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s comments at the congress were widely anticipated as he has been issuing increasingly hard-line views toward South Korea since 2024, when he discarded the North\u2019s long-standing goal of a peaceful reunification between the war-divided Koreas and declared the South as a permanent enemy. But analysts expected Kim to take a more measured approach toward Washington to preserve the possibility of future dialogue, with the long-term aim of securing U.S. sanctions relief and tacit recognition as a nuclear state.<\/p>\n

Kim has recently been prioritizing Russia in his foreign policy, sending thousands of troops and large amounts of military equipment to support Moscow\u2019s war in Ukraine, possibly in exchange for aid and military technology. But it would make sense to keep his options open as the war in Ukraine could wind down, potentially making North Korea less valuable to Moscow, experts say.<\/p>\n

In a report wrapping up the congress, Kim said his government was maintaining the \u201ctoughest stance\u201d against Washington, but added there was \u201cno reason we cannot get along\u201d with the Americans if they withdrew their supposedly \u201chostile policy\u201d toward the North. North Korea often uses the term to describe U.S.-led pressure and sanctions over Kim\u2019s nuclear ambitions. His comments aligned with North Korea\u2019s previous position calling for Washington to abandon its demands for the North\u2019s denuclearization as a precondition for reviving talks.<\/p>\n

North Korea has repeatedly rejected Washington and Seoul\u2019s calls to resume diplomacy aimed at winding down its nuclear program, which derailed in 2019 following the collapse of Kim\u2019s second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term.<\/p>\n

The prospects of U.S.-North Korea relations \u201cdepends entirely on the U.S. attitude,\u201d Kim said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s peaceful coexistence or permanent confrontation, we are ready for either, and the choice is not ours to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Kim confirms hard-line view of Seoul –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Analysts say Kim\u2019s vilification of South Korea reflects his view that Seoul, which helped set up his first meetings with Trump, is no longer a useful intermediary with Washington but an obstacle to his effort to establish a more assertive regional footing.<\/p>\n

He has also shown a sensitivity to South Korean soft power, pushing aggressive domestic campaigns to block the influence of South Korean culture and language among his population as he looks to tighten his family\u2019s authoritarian grip.<\/p>\n

At the congress, Kim derided liberal South Korean President Lee Jae Myung\u2019s calls for engagement as a deception, accusing successive governments in Seoul of seeking the North\u2019s collapse. He said there is \u201cabsolutely nothing to discuss\u201d with an enemy state and that the North would \u201cpermanently exclude\u201d the South from the notion of a shared nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as the Republic of Korea cannot escape its geopolitical condition of sharing a border with us, the only way it can live safely is to abandon all ties with us and refrain from provoking us,\u201d he said, disdainfully referring to South Korea\u2019s formal name.<\/p>\n

Tensions could further rise next month when South Korea stages its annual military exercises with the United States. North Korea portrays the allies’ joint exercises as invasion rehearsals and often uses them as a pretext to dial up its own military demonstrations.<\/p>\n

– Chasing more advanced weapons –<\/strong><\/p>\n

North Korea in past years has developed or tested much of the weapons from an extensive wish list Kim issued at the previous congress in 2021, including solid-fuel ICBMs, tactical nuclear systems and purported hypersonic weapons. The country launched its first military satellite in 2023 and has recently claimed progress in building a nuclear-propelled submarine.<\/p>\n

At the latest congress, Kim set new goals to advance his nuclear forces in the next five years while calling for faster production of nuclear warheads and a broader range of delivery systems.<\/p>\n

Emphasizing naval capabilities, Kim called for ICBMs that could be fired from underwater platforms, indicating potential plans to fit those weapons on the nuclear-propelled submarine being built. He called for developing artificial intelligence-equipped attack drones, stronger electronic warfare capabilities to disable enemy command centers, more advanced reconnaissance satellites and unspecified weapons to strike enemy satellites.<\/p>\n

He also said the military will deploy more nuclear-capable artillery systems against South Korea in phases each year while speeding up efforts to \u201cfortify\u201d the inter-Korean border.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un claimed his nuclear-armed country could \u201ccompletely destroy\u201d South Korea if its security were threatened, reiterating his refusal to engage with Seoul, state media said Thursday. However, he left the door open to dialogue with Washington as he concluded a ruling party congress outlining his policy goals for the next […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43024"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43024"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43027,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43024\/revisions\/43027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}