Kim Jong Un Condemns US-Seoul Nuclear Submarine Settlement as Provocative Act

Kim Jong Un made the feedback whereas inspecting a North Korean nuclear submarine facility on Wednesday.

North Korean chief Kim Jong Un has hit out at a brand new nuclear submarine deal between the US and South Korea, describing it as a risk to the soundness of the Korean Peninsula as he toured his nation’s submarine manufacturing facility, in line with North Korean state media.

Kim stated the deal between Seoul and Washington was an “offensive act severely violating [Pyongyang’s] safety and maritime sovereignty and a risk to safety that should be countered”, in line with state information outlet KCNA.

It was now pressing to “additional speed up the unconventional improvement of the modernisation and nuclear weaponisation of the naval pressure” of North Korea, Kim stated, in line with the report.

Kim made the remarks as he toured a facility on Wednesday the place Pyongyang is engaged on an “8,700-tonnage nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine”.

The North Korean chief on Wednesday additionally oversaw the check firing of a brand new high-altitude long-range anti-air missile into the Sea of Japan, in line with KCNA, which the information outlet known as the “East Sea of Korea”.

KCNA reported that the check was profitable, and the missile efficiently hit a mock goal at an altitude of 200 kilometres (124 miles).

The developments got here as Seoul stated it was pursuing a “standalone deal” with the US to accumulate nuclear-powered submarine know-how, in line with South Korea’s Yonhap information company.

US regulation bans the switch of nuclear materials for navy use, however South Korea may obtain an exemption from US President Donald Trump, the East Asian nation’s nationwide safety adviser, Wi Sung-lac, informed the media following a gathering with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Vitality Chris Wright.

Australia pursued an analogous cope with the US to construct its personal nuclear-powered submarines, Wi stated, and talks with Washington are anticipated to start early subsequent yr.

Individually on Wednesday, Russian chief Vladimir Putin additionally despatched Kim a New 12 months’s greeting, thanking him for his ongoing navy help for the warfare in Ukraine. North Korea has deployed 1000’s of troopers since 2024 to struggle alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, and in components of Russia that Ukrainian troopers briefly grabbed in counteroffensive operations.

“The heroic entry of troopers of the Korean Individuals’s Military into the battles for liberating the Kursk area from occupiers and the following actions of Korean engineers within the land of Russia clearly proved the invincible friendship and militant fraternity” between Russia and North Korea, Putin stated, in line with a report by KCNA.

Putin additionally hailed the success of a “complete strategic partnership” treaty signed between Moscow and Pyongyang in 2024, KCNA stated, stating that sooner or later, he hoped to “strengthen the relations of friendship and alliance in each means and conduct constructive cooperation on regional and worldwide points”.