Kim Jong-un Repeats Vow for ‘Exponential’ Growth of North Korea’s Nuclear Arsenal

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un gave a speech on Monday in which he vowed an “exponential” increase in North Korea’s nuclear arsenal to meet “the various threats posed by the United States and its followers.”

Kim said the United States and “its followers” (by which he presumably meant South Korea) pose a “grave threat” to the security of his Communist dictatorship with their policies of “reckless expansion.”

“The obvious conclusion is that the nuclear force of the DPRK and the posture capable of properly using it for ensuring the state’s right to security in any time should be more thoroughly perfected,” Kim said in a speech commemorating the 76th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean state.

Kim warned his regime would “redouble its measures and efforts to make all the armed forces of the state including the nuclear force fully ready for combat.”

The dictator insisted that North Korea, unlike the U.S. and South Korea, is a “responsible nuclear weapons state.”

“The DPRK will steadily strengthen its nuclear force capable of fully coping with any threatening acts imposed by its nuclear-armed rival states and redouble its measures and efforts to make all the armed forces of the state including the nuclear force fully ready for combat,” he said, using North Korea’s preferred name for itself.

Kim’s remarks, which were slightly more belligerent than his usual speeches on nuclear warfare, could be a signal that North Korea is preparing new weapons tests to coincide with the American presidential election – possibly tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that could deliver nuclear warheads to the continental United States and Europe.

Kim also seemed to be expressing his frustration with an agreement signed in July by American and South Korean officials during a NATO summit in Washington.

The agreement, entitled “U.S.-ROK Guidelines for Nuclear Deterrence and Nuclear Operations on the Korean Peninsula,” was the first nuclear deterrence strategy paper to be formally signed by both governments.

The agreement was the culmination of a consultation process established by Washington and Seoul roughly a year ago in response to North Korea’s provocative missile tests and growing ties between North Korea and Russia.

Although the details of the agreement were largely classified, it was intended to formalize the long-understood willingness of the United States to defend South Korea from any attack by North Korea, including a nuclear strike. To put it bluntly, some South Koreans were uncertain that America’s defense commitment would extend that far, if the unthinkable occurred.

The guidelines signed in July were meant to establish a unified strategy in which the United States would use its nuclear forces to back up South Korea’s conventional weapons in an overwhelming retaliation to any North Korean nuclear attack. Both American and South Korean officials fully expected North Korea to respond to the signing with anger.

Kim introduced the idea of “exponentially” increasing North Korea’s arsenal during an end-of-year party meeting in early January 2023, after rescinding North Korea’s longtime rhetorical commitment to denuclearization and making it illegal to even discuss the idea of eliminating his regime’s nuclear weapons.

Kim’s idea of an “exponential” upgrade explicitly included developing ICBMs that could hit Europe and North America, as well as producing enough highly-mobile shorter-range nuclear weapons to guarantee a devastating retaliatory strike against South Korea.