Kim Jong Un defends North Korea’s nuclear status, blames US for global conflicts

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a recent ​Central Committee meeting of the ruling Workers' Party has defended the country's nuclear status, calling it “the only way to cope with unpredictable global security.”

According to the KCNA news agency reported on Tuesday, Kim stated that in the midst of a complicated global security environment, it is important to exercise and maintain nuclear capabilities.

"To steadily expand and strengthen the nuclear forces ... and to thoroughly ​exercise the position of a nuclear weapons state is the most correct and unique way to actively and confidently cope with the unpredictable international military and political situation getting complicated in multiple ways," KCNA reported.

North Korea's leader also fired back at the United States for igniting and worsening conflicts in Europe and the Middle East and especially in the Korean peninsula.

"Unimaginable, astonishing incidents and events are occurring because of the gangster-like greed of hegemonic forces, making confrontations around the world more ​violent,” Kim said.

Speaking about the heightened regional tensions in the Korean Peninsula, Kim accused the US and South Korea of turning the “security situation in Peninsula more dangerous and combustible by steadily upgrading their combined nuclear posture in order to attack North Korea.”

In a recent development, Kim also ordered to boost the buildup of conventional weapons and construction of a 10,000 ton strategic guided missiles cruiser.

According to the experts, Kim's remarks show that denuclearisation talks “are off the table.” The only acceptable thing for North Korea would be to “only engage in negotiations as a nuclear weapons state on an equal footing.”

They argued that such discussions would necessitate acknowledging a minimum nuclear deterrent and providing sanctions relief.

These developments demonstrate a fundamental departure from the phased denuclearization proposals suggested by South Korean President Lee Jae-myung to the US President Donald Trump at the G7.

North Korea has formally declared itself a nuclear state and showed defiance against abandoning its nuclear weapons , marking a failure of years of diplomatic intervention by the US, China, and South Korea.

Despite numerous US and UN sanctions imposed between 2006 and 2017, the country continues to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missile delivery systems.