N. Korea's vice defense minister justifies nuclear arsenal at Chinese defense forum

The Korea Times - Sep 18, 2026

North Korea's Vice Defense Minister Kim Kang-il has reaffirmed his country's nuclear program at a defense forum in China, calling it "self-defensive," Pyongyang's state media reported Friday. Kim made the remarks Thursday in his address at the 13th Beijing Xiangshan Forum, which was held in China from Tuesday to Thursday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. Kim criticized the United States' joint military exercises with its allies, claiming that the drills based on the assumption of nuclear weapons use were carried out publicly near the Korean Peninsula. Insisting that such drills justified North Korea's own nuclear program, he said the North will "ceaselessly expand and strengthen our self-defensive nuclear war deterrent," while describing the country's nuclear status as at "the point of no return." Kim also urged "enemy states" to abandon what he called their "unrealistic denuclearization delusion." On the sidelines of the forum, he met with his Chinese counterpart to discuss deepening "strategic communication" and expanding military cooperation and development, the KCNA reporte

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