SEOUL, Jan 9, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the
United States is his nuclear-armed nation’s “biggest enemy”, state media
reported Saturday, as he threw down the diplomatic gauntlet to the incoming
administration of Joe Biden.
The declaration comes less than two weeks ahead of the new US president’s
inauguration and after a tumultuous relationship between Kim and the outgoing
leader Donald Trump.
Kim and Trump first engaged in a war of words and mutual threats, before an
extraordinary diplomatic bromance that featured headline-grabbing summits and
declarations of love by the US president.
But little substantive progress was made, with the process deadlocked after
their February 2019 meeting in Hanoi broke down over sanctions relief and
what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return.
The North “should focus and be developed on subverting the US, the biggest
obstacle for our revolution and our biggest enemy”, Kim told the five-yearly
congress of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, the official KCNA news agency
reported.
“No matter who is in power, the true nature of its policy against North
Korea will never change,” it quoted him as saying, without mentioning Biden
by name.
“The check has come due on the Singapore and Hanoi Summits,” tweeted Ankit
Panda of the Carnegie Endowment. “And the Biden administration gets to pick
up the tab.”
The change of leadership in Washington presents a challenge for Pyongyang,
which has previously called Biden a “rabid dog”, while he characterised Kim
as a “thug” during the presidential debates.
The US is expected to return to more orthodox diplomatic approaches under
Biden, such as insisting on extensive progress at working-level talks before
any leaders’ summit can be considered.
Kim “sees a stalemate that won’t change anytime soon”, said Harry Kazianis
of the Center for the National Interest.
The process with Trump was brokered by South Korean President Moon Jae-in,
but Kim said Seoul was in breach of inter-Korean agreements and “and
disregarding our warnings that it should stop joint military drills with the
US”.
– Strategic balance –
Pyongyang has poured vast resources into developing its nuclear weapons and
ballistic missiles, which it says it needs to defend itself against a
possible US invasion.
The programmes have made rapid progress under Kim, including by far its
most powerful nuclear blast to date and missiles capable of reaching the
entire continental US, at a cost of increasingly stringent international
sanctions.
At a military parade in October, it showed off a huge new missile that
analysts concurred was the largest road-mobile, liquid-fuelled missile
anywhere in the world, and was highly likely to be designed to carry multiple
warheads in independent re-entry vehicles (MIRVs).
The North has also completed plans for a nuclear-powered submarine, Kim
said — something that would change the strategic balance.
Such a weapon, if it was built and went into service, could enable
Pyongyang to surreptitiously bring its missiles close to the United States,
cutting down warning times ahead of any launch.
Designs for the vessel were “in the stage of final examination”, Kim said,
adding the North was also researching technology including military
reconnaissance satellites, supersonic gliding weapons and various warhead
types, and was “making preparations for their test and production”.
The Biden administration was unlikely to react strongly to Kim’s comments
as they were “only words”, Cho Seong-ryoul of the Institute for National
Security Strategy in Seoul told AFP.
“But if the North carries them into action with provocation or launches, I
expect it to respond severely.”
– Work report –
Kim’s declarations came in his nine-hour work report to the meeting, spread
over three days, which KCNA was reporting in detail for the first time.
The congress is the top ruling party gathering, a grand political set-piece
that reinforces the regime’s authority and can serve as a platform for
announcements of policy shifts or elite personnel changes.
For several days, state television has been showing images of the 7,000
delegates and attendees packed into the cavernous April 25 House of Culture
venue — none of them wearing masks — repeatedly applauding Kim wildly
during his speech.
The gathering comes with North Korea more isolated than ever after closing
its borders last January to protect itself against the coronavirus that first
emerged in neighbour and key ally China.
That has added to the pressures on the North, with Pyongyang blockading
itself far more effectively than even the most hawkish advocate of sanctions
could ever hope to achieve, and trade with China at a fraction of the usual
level.
In his work report, Kim admitted mistakes had been made in the last five
years and that “almost all sectors fell a long way short of the set
objectives” in the country’s economic plan.