North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said in a speech broadcast on Sunday that North Korea won’t use nuclear weapons unless it feels threatened by other countries with nuclear arms.
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Kim also promised that the North would follow a policy of non-proliferation, and said Pyongyang was willing to improve and normalise relations with countries that had been “hostile” in the past.
“As a responsible nuclear weapons state, our Republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes”, KCNA quoted Mr. Kim as saying on the second day of the meeting on Saturday.
Since assuming power after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in 2011, Kim has pushed a “byongjin” guns-and-butter policy of developing North Korea’s nuclear weapons while also building its domestic economy.
Tightening U.N. sanctions and an inability to freely access the Internet are inhibiting the work of North Korean scientists, Nobel Prize laureates who recently visited the country said Saturday.
The first congress of the ruling Workers’ Party since 1980, which opened on Friday, is being closely watched for any indication of a loosening of North Korea’s authoritarian rule, economic liberalization or an opportunity to resolve its nuclear standoff with other countries.
The North is ready to improve and normalize ties with countries hostile to it if they respect its sovereignty and approach it in a friendly manner, Kim said.
In this image made from video by North Korean broadcaster KRT, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, speaks at the party congress in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, May 7, 2016.
Kim stressed that the country needs to increase its worldwide trade and engagement in the global economy, but didn’t announce any significant reforms or plans to adopt capitalist-style marketization.
To put a finer point on his defiant message, outside observers believe, the North might be preparing to conduct another nuclear test soon.
Kim has lauded North Korea’s advances in nuclear technology, as South Korean officials continue to warn that a fifth test could be imminent.
North Korea has indicated in recent years that it can discuss its nuclear disarmament only in the context of global denuclearisation.
But Kim’s tone was markedly softer than the remarks in March by the foreign minister, who said North Korea will shift its military to a pre-emptive stance.
While on this trip they did not meet with senior North Korean politicians, Morawetz said he had previously met with titular head of state Kim Yong Nam, so he knew it had support at the highest levels.
The surprisingly full remarks from Kim were reported on North Korea’s state television and in the official media.
But Kim Jong Un has been promoting a “byungjin” – or “simultaneous pursuit” – policy under which he has been trying to grow the economy and develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to deliver them. “And that it will not tolerate North Korea’s refusal to give up its nuclear weapons”.
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U.S. and North Korean officials have held a number of informal discussions in neutral venues in recent years, but they are understood to have stalled over the basis for beginning any substantive dialogue. North Korea demands the unconditional resumption of negotiations, while the USA says that Pyongyang must first take concrete steps demonstrating its denuclearization commitments.
