More nukes a must, says North Korea's Kim Jong Un

U.S. threat cited; test expected soon

North Koreans participate in a mass dance event marking the 20th anniversary of the election of former leader Kim Jong Il as general secretary of the Workers’ Party, which is the founding and ruling party of North Korea, at Kim Il Sung Square on Sunday in Pyongyang.
North Koreans participate in a mass dance event marking the 20th anniversary of the election of former leader Kim Jong Il as general secretary of the Workers’ Party, which is the founding and ruling party of North Korea, at Kim Il Sung Square on Sunday in Pyongyang.

SEOUL, South Korea -- The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, has vowed to build up his country's nuclear arsenal as a "powerful deterrent" to the United States, state media reported, hours after President Donald Trump said that "only one thing will work" in dealing with the isolated country.

Kim made his comments on Saturday at a meeting of the Central Committee of his ruling Workers' Party, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday. He also reconfirmed his policy of simultaneously seeking progress in his nuclear weapons program and pushing for economic growth in the face of expanding international sanctions.

The remarks indicated that Kim had no intention of retreating under U.S. pressure as South Korean officials and analysts worry that the North will conduct a major weapons test to observe the anniversary Tuesday of the founding of the Workers' Party.

North Korea's nuclear weapons are a "powerful deterrent firmly safeguarding the peace and security in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia," Kim was quoted as saying, citing "protracted nuclear threats of the U.S. imperialists."

Trump said on Twitter on Saturday that 25 years of talks and deals with North Korea had come to nothing, making "fools of U.S. negotiators." He added, "Sorry, but only one thing will work!"

When asked by reporters to elaborate later Saturday, he said: "You'll figure that out pretty soon."

Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told NBC on Sunday that Trump's "clearly telegraphing, and this should not be news to anybody," that "military options are on the table. ... They absolutely are."

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday that his government fully supports the U.S. stance on pressuring North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, with all options on the table.

In a televised debate Sunday among leaders of major political parties, Abe said North Korea had failed to deliver on past promises to give up its pursuit of nuclear technology made during "six-party" talks with Japan, China, the U.S., Russia and South Korea.

"They used the framework of the dialogue to earn time so that they could develop their nuclear technology," Abe said. "As the result, their nuclear capability has reached to this level and we cannot afford being deceived by them again."

Abe did not specifically comment on Trump's weekend tweet.

In response to North Korea's tests of nuclear bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Trump administration has pushed for punitive economic measures while indicating that military solutions were also possible.

North Korea has launched a series of powerful missiles since July, including two intercontinental ballistic missiles and intermediate-range missiles that flew over Japan. The North also conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test last month, deepening fears that the country was approaching its stated goal of capability to deliver nuclear payloads to the mainland United States.

Indeed, a Russian lawmaker who had just returned from Pyongyang told reporters on Friday that North Korea was preparing for another long-range missile test.

A top Korea analyst at the CIA last week said that the U.S. government should be ready for another North Korean provocation this week -- not least because the Tuesday anniversary overlaps with Columbus Day in the United States, given the 12-hour, 30-minute time difference between Pyongyang and Washington. This would provide North Korea with the opportunity to both celebrate an important day on its calendar and interfere with an American holiday weekend.

"Stand by your phones," Yong-suk Lee, deputy assistant director of the CIA's Korea Mission Center, said he'd told his staff. He was speaking at a conference in Washington last week.

However, there were expectations that North Korea would do something incendiary last Oct. 10 and the day passed without a bang.

The war of words between Kim and Trump about the North's advancing nuclear program has also added to tensions and uncertainty in the region.

The U.S. leader has threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea, and warned that the U.S. military was "locked and loaded" to take action if necessary. Kim has called Trump a "mentally deranged dotard" and has said that his country was ready to fight a nuclear war that would devastate the "entire" South Korea, the North's state media said.

KIM'S SUCCESSOR?

A weekend of celebrations in North Korea included a parade celebrating 20 years since Kim Jong Il, the current leader's father, was elected general secretary of the Workers' Party. Kim Jong Un also visited the mausoleum where his father and grandfather, "eternal president" Kim Il Sung, lie in state.

During the party meeting on Saturday, Kim said America's hostility proved that North Korea was "absolutely right" to pursue its "byungjin" policy of seeking parallel development of nuclear weapons and the economy. Kim also claimed that the North Korean economy had grown despite escalating sanctions.

Kim also used the party meeting to promote those loyal to him in the party hierarchy. His younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, was made an alternate member of the Politburo -- the top decision-making body that he leads.

The Rodong Sinmun, the party newspaper, showed photos of those who had been promoted at the meeting: eight men in the their 60s or older, and Kim Yo Jong, the only woman and the only person not approaching pensionable age. She is thought to have been born in 1987.

She is taking the place of their aunt, Kim Jong Il's sister Kim Kyung Hui, who has not been seen in public since Kim Jong Un had her husband, Jang Song Thaek, executed in 2013. Intelligence analysts believe she is still alive, but very sick and no longer involved in the leadership.

Analysts saw the sister's elevation as the latest sign that Kim Jong Un is trying to boost her standing in the regime. The Kim family claims its legitimacy through the "Paekdu bloodline" -- the idea that their family has been destined, by a sacred Korean mountain, to lead the country.

Kim Jong Un, who is 33, has played up the bloodline angle as he has sought to cement his claim to be his father's rightful successor. But it is is not clear who would succeed Kim Jong Un if he were to die suddenly.

He is thought to have two or three children, at least one of whom is a boy, but they are all younger than six years old. Michael Madden, an expert on the Kim family who runs the North Korea Leadership Watch blog, thinks that Kim Jong Un might be positioning his sister as the next heir to the family dynasty.

Kim Yo Jong was involved in ensuring the succession process from her father to her brother, and has taken on a series of increasingly prominent roles over the past couple of years. In 2014, she was made deputy director of the Workers' Party's Propaganda and Agitation Department -- a position that led the Treasury Department to sanction her by name in January for her role in censoring information in North Korea.

"Kim Yo Jong is very influential," said Lim Jae-cheon, a Kim family expert at Korea University in Seoul. "She is doing her job in the propaganda department but I don't think she's involved in other areas."

Lim does not think she is seen as a potential successor in highly Confucian -- hierarchical and male-dominated -- North Korea. "She can't be leader. She's a female," he said.

The sister, who is in charge of the party's propaganda department, is the only sibling active in Kim's government. His eldest brother holds no known post. Another elder, estranged brother, Kim Jong Nam, was killed in Kuala Lumpur in February; the Malaysian authorities have said that two women accused of killing him were hired by North Korean agents.

Also elevated to the Politburo was Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, who warned last month that North Korea could conduct a hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific.

Information for this article was contributed by Choe Sang-Hun of The New York Times; Anna Fifield of The Washington Post; and staff members of The Associated Press.

A Section on 10/09/2017

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