North Korea is struggling under international sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
North Korea has “a credible and effective war deterrent for self-defense” and is now focusing on developing an economy affected by the sanctions, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations Kim Sung said on Tuesday.
In an address to the UN General Assembly, Kim said North Korea was still threatened by military hardware such as stealth fighters on the Korean Peninsula and that “all forms of nuclear strike are designed with the DPRK in mind.”
“True peace can only be maintained when peace has the full potential to be at war with itself,” Kim said. “As we have achieved reliable and effective war prevention for self-defense by tightening our belts, the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and the region are now firmly defended.”
Already weighed down by stringent international sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, Pyongyang is facing significant economic losses from tight border closures and other measures to prevent a coronavirus outbreak. It is also struggling to cope with the damage caused by recent storms and floods.
Kim said the epidemic situation was “under safe and stable control” as a result of government steps taken to spread the novel coronavirus. North Korea has said it has no confirmed cases, although some have questioned the claim.
“Based on its credible guarantee to protect the security of the state and the people, the DPRK is now directing all its efforts towards economic construction,” Kim said, using his country’s official formal name – the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“The thing is, we need a good external environment for economic construction,” he said. “But we can’t sell our pride just in the hope of a glorious change – in the hope of saving as much as our own lives. This is our stable position. ”
Flinging restrictions
A UN report on Monday said North Korea was hitting nuclear sanctions by overcoming a 500,000-barrel ban on petroleum imports and continuing to send workers abroad.
Independent sanctions monitors reported to the Security Council in August that North Korea continues its nuclear weapons program and many countries believe it has “developed miniature nuclear devices to fit the military part of its ballistic missiles.”
Jenny Town, an associate at the Celeston Center and deputy director of 38 North, said in the angel’s speech that “there were no clear threats or signs of a show of force or a demonstration of strength in the near future.
He added that while North Korea seeks relief from sanctions, “it will not just lay down its arms on promises of a brighter future” and will need to take concrete steps to prove that relations with the United States have changed before Pyongyang. Appropriate measures that would jeopardize its safety.
Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump met in Singapore and the following year in Hanoi, but they failed to move forward on key issues. [File: KCNA via EPA]
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump have met three times since 2018, but no progress has been made on a US order by Pyongyang to abandon North Korea’s demands to end its nuclear weapons and sanctions.
North Korea’s ruling party is planning a congress to decide on a new five-year plan in January, state media reported last month, noting that the party meeting noted serious delays in improving the national economy and living standards.
