North Korea announced on Saturday that it will advance its nuclear capabilities, reacting to reports that the United States has revised its nuclear strategic plan.
The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that North Korea plans to “bolster up its strategic strength in every way to control and eliminate all sorts of security challenges that may result from Washington’s revised plan.”
According to The New York Times, a U.S. plan approved by President Joe Biden in March includes preparations for potential coordinated nuclear confrontations with Russia, China, and North Korea.
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The highly classified plan shifts Washington’s deterrent strategy to address China’s rapid expansion of its nuclear arsenal, as reported by the Times.
KCNA stated that North Korea’s foreign ministry “expresses serious concern over and bitterly denounces and rejects the behavior of the U.S.” The country also vowed to enhance its nuclear force to reliably defend its sovereignty.
Since its founding after World War II, North Korea has maintained a close alliance with Russia, which has strengthened following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The United States and Seoul have accused North Korea of supplying ammunition and missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine. North Korea, however, has dismissed these allegations as “absurd.”
North Korea did thank Russia for using its United Nations veto in March to effectively halt monitoring of sanctions violations just as UN experts were beginning to investigate alleged arms transfers.
China, another key ally of North Korea, presents itself as neutral in Russia’s offensive on Ukraine and denies sending lethal assistance to either side. However, China is a close political and economic ally of Russia, which has looked to Beijing for economic support amid heavy Western sanctions.
(Includes inputs from online sources)
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