North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used a public appearance on Monday to rant about joint US-South Korean military drills that began this week, calling them an “obvious expression of their will to provoke war”.
Mr Kim also vowed to rapidly expand his country’s nuclear arsenal in response, as he inspected his most advanced warship being fitted with nuclear-capable systems, reported state media KCNA.
The North Korean leader’s visit to the western port of Nampo on Monday came as South Korea and the US kicked off their annual large-scale summertime exercises, which are designed to prepare for the possibility of an attack from North Korea.
Pyongyang regularly criticises such drills as rehearsals for invasion and sometimes responds with weapons tests, but Seoul and Washington have long rejected these concerns, calling the exercises purely defensive.
The 11-day drills, dubbed Ulchi Freedom Shield, will be on a similar scale to 2024 but with 20 out of 40 field training events postponed to September, South Korea's military said earlier. Over the next few days, the two countries will mobilise 21,000 troops, including 18,000 South Koreans, for computer-simulated command post operations and field training.
The delays to parts of the programme came as South Korean president Lee Jae Myung said he wanted to ease tensions with North Korea, though Pyongyang has repeatedly said it is not interested in improving relations.
Lashing out over the joint military drills, Mr Kim labelled them a “clear expression” of the two nations’ will “to remain most hostile and confrontational" to North Korea.
During his visit to a navy destroyer on Monday, the North Korean leader said that the country needs to “rapidly expand” its nuclear capabilities as the US-South Korea exercises have a "nuclear element".
"The security environment around the DPRK is getting more serious day by day and the prevailing situation requires us to make a radical and swift change in the existing military theory and practice and rapid expansion of nuclearisation," KCNA paraphrased Mr Kim as saying, using the initials of North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The South Korean government did not immediately respond to Mr Kim's comments, and South Korea's defence ministry said it had no new assessments to share regarding the North Korean warship's capabilities.
South Korean and US military officials say Ulchi Freedom Shield will focus on countering North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile threat and will include training to deter North Korean nuclear use and respond to its missile attacks.
The exercise will also incorporate lessons from recent conflicts, including Russia's war in Ukraine and the clash between Israel and Iran, and address threats from drones, GPS jamming and cyberattacks.
Efforts by the United States and its allies to tackle North Korea's development of nuclear weapons are expected to be discussed at an upcoming meeting between US president Donald Trump and South Korean president Lee in Washington.
A report by the Federation of American Scientists last year concluded that while North Korea may have produced enough fissile material to build up to 90 nuclear warheads, it had likely assembled closer to 50.
North Korea plans to build a third 5,000-tonne Choe Hyon-class destroyer by October next year and is testing cruise and anti-air missiles for those warships.
Mr Kim has hailed the development of the naval destroyer, Choe Hyon, as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military.
State media said the destroyer, which is being prepared to enter active duty next year, is designed to handle various weapons systems, including anti-air and anti-naval weapons, as well as nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles.
The North unveiled a second destroyer of the same class in May, but the vessel was damaged during a botched launching ceremony at the northeastern port of Chongjin, prompting an angry reaction from Kim, who called the failure "criminal." The North has said the new destroyer, named Kang Kon, was relaunched in June after repair, but some outside experts have questioned whether the ship is fully operational.
During Monday's visit to Nampo, Mr Kim also reviewed North Korean efforts to complete a third destroyer by October, according to KCNA.
While inspecting Choe Hyon, he expressed satisfaction with the progress of the warship's weapons tests and its integrated operations system, saying the navy's modernisation and move toward nuclear-capable capabilities are proceeding as planned. He instructed officials to carry out performance tests in October, KCNA reported.
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