North Korea said Monday it would accelerate efforts to strengthen its nuclear deterrent after a senior ruling party official condemned allied exercises and called the policy “immutable.”
North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) carried a statement from Kim Jong-sik, a Central Committee official in the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea who serves as first vice department director. He portrayed Iron Mace as a rehearsal for a nuclear strike on North Korea. Kim argued the session vindicated Pyongyang’s decision to continue building forces it says can answer nuclear threats.
The Korea Herald reported the four-day tabletop session was held at the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Seoul headquarters between Sept. 29 and Oct. 2. South Korean conventional military capabilities formed one part of the scenario, while U.S. nuclear capabilities supplied the other; the stated objective was deterring North Korea, the paper reported.
Kim also criticized Hoguk and Freedom Flag as allied drills, and singled out Keen Sword, a U.S.-Japan exercise. He asserted that adversaries were expanding their military activity, including actions beyond public view, and argued that Pyongyang needed stronger nuclear means to keep them in check.
Kim said Pyongyang intended its deterrent to defend national sovereignty and security while contributing to regional peace. He called the policy unchangeable, saying its pace would increase to address threats already present and those that might arise. Kim invoked “strength is peace,” presenting military power as the basis for peace.
The statement follows an earlier North Korean pledge to deter perceived threats with force, issued after the allies opened their Freedom Flag air exercise on Oct. 26. In that KCNA statement, a Defense Ministry spokesperson cited allied Army, Navy and Marine units, an air-refueling tanker and attack drones as grounds for concern. Monday’s statement extends the criticism to Iron Mace’s nuclear planning and other allied drills.
