Kim Jong-un vows to expand North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, says he could ‘get along’ with Trump

According to the state news agency KCNA this Thursday, a day in which it was celebrated a massive military parade to close the 9th Congress of the Workers’ Party, Pyongyang’s most important decision-making body, Kim plans to develop more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles, including those that can be launched from submarines, AI attack systemsdrones and weapons to reach enemy satellites.

An escalation of the arms race undertaken in recent years that collides with the decision of leave the door open to hypothetical negotiations with the United States and its president, Donald Trumpwith whom Kim met up to three times during the Republican’s first term.

“If the United States respects the current status of our State, as set forth in the Constitution, and withdraws its hostile policy to North Korea, we would have no reason not to get along“Kim said in a report presented to Congress in reference to a 2023 constitutional amendment that included a policy to develop his nuclear force.

In the staging of military power through the streets of Pyongyang, Kim Jong-un has been seen accompanied by his 13-year-old daughter, the mysterious Kim Ju-yeahwhich South Korean intelligence has pointed out as the possible successor to the dictatorial regime.

The images released by the agency KCNA They show the young woman with her father on the platform watching the parade held the previous day in Kim Il-sung Square in the North Korean capital.

In several photographs he appears next to the president, both wearing black fur coatsand of senior military commanders while they follow the passage of troop columns or observe the flight of combat planes. In others he appears walking alongside Kim Jong-un, who happily greets his soldiers.

The official offices of the KCNA about the single party congress and the parade They do not explicitly mention their presencebut its appearance at an event of this caliber represents a new step in its growing public exposure.

Kim Ju-ae made his public debut in November 2022 during the inspection of an intercontinental ballistic missile test and has since accompanied his father at other weapons tests, military events and diplomatic events, including a trip to Beijing last year, in which the president met with his Chinese counterpart. Xi Jinping.

It is the first time that Ju-ae is seen at an event related to the Congress, since the previous edition was held in 2021. According to high-ranking South Korean government sources cited by the local newspaper Chosun Dailythe young woman could be acting like “director general of missile affairs”receiving reports from generals and participating in the supervision of the weapons program.

Some experts maintain that the marked patriarchal nature of the North Korean elite could represent an obstacle for a woman to assume the leadership of the country. However, under Kim Jong-un women have gained greater visibility in key positions, like his sister Kim Yo-jongwho was promoted to department director during the Congress, or the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Choe Son-huiappointed in 2022.

A wall with Seoul

As for Seoul, the supreme leader described the conciliatory gestures of President Lee Jae-myung’s Administration as “misleading” and returned to define South Korea as a “hostile entity”stating that he has no intention of dealing with the neighboring country.

The South Korean Ministry of Unification responded in a statement by regretting that Pyongyang has decided to continue with the position of “two hostile states” and that it has not responded to its efforts to achieve “peaceful coexistence” on the Korean peninsula.

He added that Seoul will firmly maintain the three principles towards North Korea: respect the North Korean system, not seek reunification by absorption and not carry out any hostile act.

Dozens of columns of troops and air units participated in Thursday’s parade, including forces deployed abroad, in reference to soldiers who were deployed to Kursk to support Russia in its war against Ukraine, according to the KCNA.

However, it was striking that recent strategic systems such as the Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missilepresented last October, suggesting that they may not have been shown on this occasion.

During the parade, Kim warned that the North Korean Army will launch “terrible retaliation attacks” against any force that commits hostile military acts that threaten the regime, according to the speech published by the agency.