Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

This picture taken on August 24, 2024 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 26 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (front C) inspecting a performance test of drones organized by the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defense Sciences at an undisclosed location in North Korea. KCNA via KNS/AFP

Article (news)

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1774309276559Screen Shot 2026-03-24 at 7.41.03 AM.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">This picture taken on August 24, 2024 and released by North Korea&#x27;s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 26 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (front C) inspecting a performance test of drones organized by the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defense Sciences at an undisclosed location in North Korea. KCNA via KNS/AFP<br/></span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea will never change its status as a nuclear-armed state, its leader Kim Jong Un said, state media reported on Tuesday.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/12/29/north-korea-test-fires-long-range-cruise-missiles-state-media-0711">North Korea tests cruise missiles in show of &#x27;combat readiness&#x27;</a></div><p>The declaration -- delivered on Monday -- follows Kim&#x27;s reappointment a day earlier as head of the authoritarian nation&#x27;s highest policymaking body, the State Affairs Commission.</p><p>&quot;We will continue to firmly consolidate our status as a nuclear-armed state as an irreversible course, while aggressively stepping up our struggle against hostile forces,&quot; he said in a policy speech at the rubber-stamp legislature in Pyongyang.</p><p>In a lengthy policy address reported by the official Korean Central News Agency, the third-generation leader addressed a wide range of issues, from nuclear weapons and defense policy to economic goals and relations with South Korea.</p><p>&quot;We will, in line with the mission entrusted by the Constitution of the Republic …., further expand and advance our self-defensive nuclear deterrent,&quot; he said, referring to nuclear weapons.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/overseas/03/25/21/n-korea-missile-test-casts-shadow-over-biden-administration-japan-olympics">N. Korea missile test casts shadow over Biden administration, Japan Olympics</a></div><p>Pursuing an expansion of nuclear weapons to consolidate its status as a nuclear-armed state has been &quot;entirely justified&quot;, he added.</p><p>The isolated country will ensure &quot;precise readiness&quot; of its nuclear forces, he said, to fend off &quot;strategic threats&quot;.</p><p>Kim did not mince words about his southern neighbor, which he called &quot;the most hostile state&quot;.</p><p>&quot;We will designate South Korea as the most hostile state and deal with it by thoroughly rejecting and disregarding it,&quot; Kim said.</p><p>Pyongyang will &quot;make it pay mercilessly -- without the slightest consideration or hesitation -- for any act that infringes upon our Republic,&quot; he added.</p><p>Kim&#x27;s remarks targeting Seoul come despite repeated overtures by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, a dovish leader who took office in June, for dialogue without preconditions. Pyongyang has ignored these gestures.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>1.5 TIMES </strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Kim is the third-generation ruler of the state founded by his grandfather Kim Il Sung in 1948, and has ruled the country since his father&#x27;s death in 2011.</p><p>The North&#x27;s legislature re-elected Kim as president of state affairs, KCNA reported earlier, without saying whether the decision was unanimous or whether there was any dissent.</p><p>Critics argue that elections in North Korea are pre-determined and designed to give the leadership a veneer of democratic legitimacy.</p><p>On the economic front, Kim outlined a goal of increasing industrial output by 1.5 times.</p><p>Over the next five-year plan period, the isolated country &quot;must significantly strengthen the development foundations of the overall industrial sector&quot;, he said, in order to &quot;raise industrial production by about 1.5 times&quot;.</p><p>There had been &quot;clear progress in economic growth&quot; over the past five years, he said.</p><p>&quot;Over the past five years, we have renovated key machine factories... while overcoming various difficulties and deviations&quot;, he noted.</p><p>Such feats &quot;shattered... false claims of hostile forces that there can be no prosperity without nuclear abandonment&quot;, he said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bhpK-a-do-w?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5jDVaUUK-FI?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>North Korea will never change its status as a nuclear-armed state, its leader Kim Jong Un said, state media reported on Tuesday.</p>

North Korea will never change its status as a nuclear-armed state, its leader Kim Jong Un said, state media reported on Tuesday.

North Korea's Kim vows 'irreversible' nuclear status, warns Seoul of 'merciless' response

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North Korea's Kim vows 'irreversible' nuclear status, warns Seoul of 'merciless' response

Kang Jin-kyu,

Agence France-Presse

Published March 24, 2026 07:42 AM PHT

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Agence France-Presse

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