Kim Jong-un also said that Pyongyang will exercise its position as a nuclear state to cope with an unpredictable global security situation
2-MIN READ2-MINKyodoandReutersPublished: 9:40am, 23 Jun 2026North Korean leader Kim Jong-un criticised Japan as turning into a “war state”, in a speech during a three-day meeting held through Monday, official news media said on Tuesday.“Japan, a defeated country in Asia, has openly turned itself into a war state by taking the present disturbing circumstances as an opportunity to get rid of all shackles restricting its moves to become a military power,” he said, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).In the concluding speech during a meeting of the ruling party, Kim also pushed for a faster build-up of national defence capabilities. He vowed that with nuclear technology as a basis, “more extensive, innovative and encouraging plans would be carried out with increasing speed”, the report said.
Kim then set forth “tasks to dynamically carry out the work to increase powerful defence assets without pause in our own way and with a goal of overtaking the world”, KCNA said.
The speech was given during a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
Kim added that exercising the country’s position as a nuclear state is the only way to cope with an unpredictable and complicated global security situation.
