North Korea’s Kim vows to be ready for confrontation with U.S.

North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong Un speaks during a conference of cell secretaries of the ruling Pyongyang Labor Party, in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Central Korea News Agency (KCNA) on April 9, 2021.

KCNA | via Reuters

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his government to fully prepare for a confrontation with the Biden government, state media reported Friday, days after the United States and other major powers urged the North to abandon its nuclear program and return to talks.

Kim issued the order Thursday as he clarified the steps the North must take in response to the political direction of President Joe Biden’s new administration during an ongoing government meeting in Pyongyang, the Korean Central News Agency said.

Kim “stressed the need to prepare for both dialogue and confrontation, particularly to fully prepare for confrontation” with the Biden government, KCNA said.

Such preparation is necessary to “protect the dignity of our state and its interests for independent development and to reliably guarantee the peaceful environment and the security of our state,” quoted KCNA Kim.

In 2018-2019, Kim held a series of high profile summits with Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump to discuss the future of his advancing nuclear arsenal. But their nuclear negotiations eventually failed after Trump rejected Kim’s calls for extensive sanctions against a partial abandonment of his nuclear capabilities.

Since taking office in January, the Biden government has worked to formulate a new approach to North Korea’s nuclear program, which it describes as “calibrated and practical.” Details of Biden’s North Korea policy have not been released, but US officials have suggested that Biden would seek a middle ground between Trump’s face-to-face meetings with Kim and former President Barack Obama’s “strategic patience” to curb Kim’s nuclear program.

Earlier this week, the leaders of the Group of Seven Wealthy Nations issued a statement calling for the full denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the “verifiable and irreversible abandonment” of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. They called on North Korea to start and resume the dialogue and to respect human rights conditions.

Kim didn’t say what specific steps North Korea would take. However, some experts have said that he could conduct provocative missile and other weapons tests in the coming months to attract US attention and increase his leverage ahead of possible new negotiations with the United States.

In an early message to Washington in January, Kim threatened to expand its nuclear arsenal and build high-tech weapons against the US mainland if Washington refused to abandon its hostile policies towards North Korea.

In March, Kim’s military conducted the first short-range ballistic missile tests in a year. But North Korea is still maintaining a moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear testing, suggesting Kim wants to keep the prospect of diplomacy alive.

Kim is currently grappling with mounting economic worries caused by coronavirus border closings that have drastically shrunk foreign trade, US-led sanctions and natural disasters last summer. Earlier this week, Kim warned of a “tight” food situation in North Korea.