North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister on Sunday dismissed US calls for the regime’s denuclearisation as an “anachronistic dream,” vowing the country will continue expanding its nuclear arsenal in response to what she described as US-led military threats.
The comments from Kim Yo Jong, a senior ruling party official, come a day before Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Pyongyang for his first visit in seven years for talks with Kim Jong Un.
Kim Yo Jong said Washington’s attempts to deny North Korea’s status as a nuclear-armed state carry “no legally binding force,” and rejected as “false information” a U.S. claim that President Donald Trump and Xi reaffirmed support for denuclearization during their meeting in Beijing last month.
“Some officials in the United States have failed to wake from their escapist and anachronistic dream,” she said.
North Korea has accelerated its nuclear programme since Kim Jong Un’s diplomacy with Trump broke down in 2019. Analysts say Kim seeks international recognition as a nuclear state to secure relief from global sanctions.
During a tour of a new nuclear materials plant last week, Kim pledged to expand the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate.” State media reported Sunday that he visited a weapons factory and ordered missile production capacity to increase 2.5 times under a five-year plan.
Kim Yo Jong accused the United States and South Korea of driving “ceaseless arms build-ups,” saying her brother’s push to strengthen the North’s nuclear deterrent is now “an irreversible final conclusion.”
Experts say Xi’s visit is aimed at reasserting Beijing’s leverage over Pyongyang, which has drawn closer to Moscow in recent years. They expect Xi to avoid pressing the denuclearisation issue and instead offer economic support.
