The Noord -Korean dictator Kim Jong Un called on Tuesday to the rapid structure of the nuclear arsenal of his country and responded to joint military operations by the US and South Korea.
Kim called the military exercises an ‘obvious expression of their will to provoke war,’ said the Noord -Korean state media. The US and South Korea started their annual military exercises, called Ulchi Freedom Shield, this week and the operations will continue sporadically until September.
The Noord -Korean leader argued that the exercises show the intention of the US and South Korea to “remain the most hostile and confrontational”, and that therefore, North Korea must “expand its nuclear arsenal” quickly.
“Because of this movement, Noord -Korea shows the refusal to accept denuclearization and the will to upgrade nuclear weapons irreversibly,” Hong Min, a Noord -Korea analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told Reuters.
Kim Jong Un let smoke after the new torpedo hunter of Noord -Korea was damaged in failed launch
North Korean dictator Kim Jong un called in his country to “quickly expand” his nuclear arsenal. (STR/AFP via Getty images)
The rise in tensions comes only a few days after the South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has announced plans to terminate some military activities along the border with Noord -Korea and to restore a military agreement of 2018 with his neighbor.
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The agreement ended some military activities on the border between the two countries, including the creation of buffer zones on land and sea and no-fly zones above the border to prevent fighting. It also ended military exercises at the border and removed some guard stations along the demilitarized zone.
The South Korean President Lee Jae Myung says that his government is taking “gradual steps” to reduce tensions with North Korea. (AP)
The deal was signed at an Inter-Korean top in 2018, but in the end it fell apart when cross-border tensions followed.
North -Koreans avoid landmines to cross DMZ to South Korea while Seoul soften the attitude on Pyongyang
South Korea also dismantled his speakers along the border who had been broadcasting anti-Noordea messages for years, a movement that mutual answered Pyongyang.
Colonel Lee Sung-Jun, left, public affairs director of the joint staff chefs of South Korea, and Colonel Ryan Donald, director of the Public Affairs of the United Nations Command, attend the press conference for the ULCHI Freedom Shield exercise at the Ministry of Defense on the Ministry of Defense (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty images)
Lee said that his government would ‘continue to take gradual steps to restore the military agreement of September 19’.
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“I hope that Noord -Korea will answer our efforts to restore confidence and breathe new life into dialogue,” he added.
Reuters has contributed to this report.
