North Korea's Kim calls for rapid nuclear buildup amid U.S.-South Korea exercises

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for a rapid expansion of his country’s nuclear arsenal, denouncing ongoing U.S.-South Korea military drills as “an obvious expression of their intent to provoke war,” state media KCNA reported Tuesday.

The joint exercises, which began this week, include upgraded measures against Pyongyang’s nuclear threats. North Korea routinely brands such drills as invasion rehearsals, while Washington and Seoul stress they are defensive.

This year’s 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield manoeuvres are on a scale similar to 2024, though half of the field training events have been pushed to September. South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung has said he hopes to ease tensions, though analysts doubt the North will reciprocate.

Visiting a navy destroyer on Monday, Kim said the security situation made it necessary for the North to “rapidly expand” its nuclear force, highlighting that recent exercises featured “a nuclear element.”

The issue is expected to be raised at an upcoming summit in Washington between U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korea’s President Lee. “North Korea is signalling it will not accept denuclearisation and intends to permanently strengthen its arsenal,” said Hong Min, a North Korea specialist at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

According to the Federation of American Scientists, Pyongyang has likely assembled around 50 nuclear warheads, though it may have enough material for as many as 90. Meanwhile, North Korea is pressing ahead with naval modernisation, planning a third 5,000-tonne Choe Hyon-class destroyer by October next year and testing new cruise and anti-air missiles for its fleet.

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