February 10, 2025
SEOUL – North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has accused the trilateral military cooperation among South Korea, US and Japan of being a cause behind a “new conflicting structure” in the region, the North’s state media reported in English Sunday.
The report came a day after US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba agreed to work towards complete denuclearization of North Korea, following the first in-person summit between the two leaders in Washington on Saturday.
Kim, in his speech made during his visit to the Ministry of National Defense the previous day, stressed that the trilateral cooperation has been creating “military imbalance” on the Korean Peninsula and in the Northeast Asia region, the Korean Central News Agency said. Kim’s speech to military and political commanding officers of the ministry were delivered in celebration of the 77th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army, Pyongyang’s armed forces.
The trilateral cooperation alongside US nuclear strategic assets deployed on the peninsula and US-led nuclear war simulation exercise not only invites military imbalance, but leads to a “new conflicting structure,” Kim pointed out, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
As this alliance poses challenges to the North, Kim highlighted Pyongyang’s commitment to its “unshakable policy of more highly developing the nuclear forces” while saying that there are new plans to bolster “all deterrences.” The details of the new plans, however, were not elaborated.
Kim denounced the US as a cause behind “the world’s big and small disputes” which justifies his country’s seeking of “an unlimited defense capability.”
An expert said that Kim’s latest speech reflects Pyongyang’s cautiousness ahead of its potential resumption of dialogue with Washington.
“In his latest speech, Kim has refrained from using terms as nuclear power or the pursuit of complete denuclearization of North Korea, recently used by the Trump administration,” Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said.
“He’s taking cautious steps at a stage where the Trump administration’s North Korea policy, the policy towards the Korean Peninsula and roadmap to settling the war on Ukraine has yet to take shape,” he added.
But at the same time, Kim’s criticism of the US being a cause of a “new conflicting structure” in the Northeast Asia region as well as its mention of the trilateral cooperation could mean that Washington would have to make certain changes in order to enter dialogue with the North, Hong said.
“Kim could be saying that for the Trump administration to make enter and make progress in its dialogue with North Korea, it would have to make changes in the areas that he mentioned that works as a threat to Pyongyang,” he explained.
Seoul’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday welcomed the latest commitment between Trump and Ishiba to achieve Pyongyang’s denuclearization, saying that the “views of the US and Japan announced at the summit regarding the Korean Peninsula” aligns with Seoul’s policy direction.
The ministry pledged to continue close trilateral cooperation with Washington and Tokyo to achieve the shared goal of the complete denuclearization of North Korea.
The ministry’s remarks came amid growing concerns of Seoul’s role if the personal diplomacy between Trump and Kim is potentially revived. Trump has recently shown gestures and signs hinting that he could restart talks with Kim. The US president labeled his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a “very big asset for everybody,” in a press conference held after his latest meeting with Ishiba.