North Korea urges rapid nuclear weapons growth after US drills

Soo-Hyang Choi, Bloomberg News on Aug 18, 2025

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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for the “rapid expansion” of his country’s nuclear weapons program, escalating tensions with the U.S. and South Korea as the allies conduct joint military drills that Pyongyang views as a prelude to war.

Visiting the recently launched destroyer Choe Hyon, Kim said the security environment around the country requires North Korea to make a “rapid expansion of nuclearization” and speedily develop its naval forces, state media Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday.

“Kim Jong Un said that the US-ROK intensified military nexus and the muscle-flexing are the most obvious manifestation of their will to ignite a war and the source of destroying the peace and security environment in the region,” KCNA reported. ROK stands for South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.

The U.S. and South Korea on Monday began their regular summertime exercises, which North Korea has long derided as a war rehearsal.

Kim’s comments are the latest in a series of remarks rejecting peace overtures from South Korea. Since taking power in June, President Lee Jae Myung has announced a slew of measures to lower tensions with Pyongyang but the North has rebuffed them as a “foolish dream.”

After receiving a report on the new warship’s weapon systems, Kim expressed satisfaction that “major tasks for making the navy high-tech and nuclear-armed are progressing on a stage-by-stage basis as planned,” KCNA said.

The country’s navy mainly consists of smaller vessels for coastal defense. The new destroyer was designed to extend the nation’s firepower in the Yellow Sea to the west and in eastern waters in the direction of Japan.

Last November, Kim vowed to bolster the nation’s nuclear capabilities “without limit” to counter perceived threats posed by the security partnership between the U.S. and its allies in the region.

President Donald Trump and Kim met in person three times during the U.S. president’s first term, but those interactions failed to convince Kim to curb the development of his nuclear weapons program. North Korea has since rebuffed the idea of sitting down with the U.S. again and has emerged as a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, supporting his war on Ukraine.

Kim said the only way to defend the country’s security is to “make enemies afraid” of North Korea and that its capabilities will be “expressed through practical actions.”

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