TAIPEI, Taiwan – The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned on Tuesday of a “stepped-up action” against the U.S. as one of its aircraft carriers arrived in South Korea, saying the “hostile” U.S. policy justified the bolstering of the North’s nuclear forces.
The USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class carrier, arrived at the southeastern city of Busan on Sunday, South Korea’s navy said, reaffirming the U.S. commitment to extended deterrence against North Korean threats.
The North Korean leader’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, said the arrival of the U.S. aircraft was an expression of Washington’s “most hostile and confrontational will.”
“The action-accompanied hostile policy toward the DPRK pursued by the U.S. at present is offering sufficient justification for the DPRK to indefinitely bolster up its nuclear war deterrent,” said Kim, as cited by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, KCNA.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, is North Korea’s official name.
“The DPRK is also planning to carefully examine the option for increasing the actions threatening the security of the enemy at the strategic level,” said Kim, adding that her country would be “naturally compelled to renew its records in the exercise of strategic deterrence” if the U.S. continued with its record-breaking shows of force.
South Korea denounced Kim’s remarks, saying she was attempting to justify North Korean military provocations.
“North Korea’s criticism of the deployment of a U.S. strategic asset to implement the U.S. extended deterrence pledge and combined South Korea-U.S. exercise ahead of the Freedom Shield exercise is merely sophistry to justify its nuclear and missile development and build excuse for provocations,” the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, referring to annual military drills between the South and the U.S.
The North’s nuclear development could “never be accepted,” and the only way for it to survive was to “let go of its obsessions” with nuclear weapons, the ministry said.
“Should the North conduct provocation, using Seoul and Washington’s just and defensive military activities as pretext, it will be met with overwhelming retaliation,” added the South Korean ministry.
The nuclear-powered vessel of Carrier Strike Group 1 entered the naval base in Busan in the first visit by a U.S. aircraft carrier to South Korea since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.
It was also accompanied by the guided missile cruiser USS Princeton and Aegis-equipped destroyer USS Sterett, according to the South’s navy.
The visit is part of efforts to implement an “ironclad” U.S. extended deterrence pledge, which Washington recently reaffirmed, and display the robust South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture against persistent North Korean threats, the South Korean navy said.
The allies would bolster their interoperability and hold friendly activities during the visit, it added.
The Carl Vinson last visited South Korea in November 2023, just hours before North Korea successfully placed its first military spy satellite into orbit after two failed attempts.
IAEA assessment
Kim Yo Jong’s remarks came a day after the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, said there were signs that North Korea was operating uranium enrichment plants in two locations.
“There are indications that the uranium enrichment plants at Kangson and Yongbyon continue to operate, and there are indications that the light water reactor (LWR) at Yongbyon continues to operate,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi during the agency’s Board of Governors meeting in Vienna on Monday.
“Additions to the support infrastructure have been observed adjacent to the LWR,” said Grossi, adding that North Korea’s further development of its nuclear program was a “clear” breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
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The IAEA has also observed that the 5-megawatt nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon complex resumed in mid-October last year, following a shutdown of about 60 days, according to Grossi.
“This shutdown is assessed to be of sufficient length to refuel the reactor and start its seventh operational cycle,” he said.
“Strong indicators of preparations for a new reprocessing campaign, including the operation of the steam plant serving the Radiochemical Laboratory, have been observed.”
The laboratory is known as a key reprocessing facility to yield plutonium. To build a nuclear bomb, about 6 kilograms of plutonium is known to be required.
“The undeclared enrichment facilities at both Kangson and Yongbyon, combined with General Secretary Kim’s call for ‘overfulfilling the plan for producing weapons-grade nuclear materials,’ are of serious concern,” he added.
“The agency continues to maintain its enhanced readiness to play its essential role in verifying the DPRK’s nuclear program.”
Edited by Mike Firn.