As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office for a second term, Kim Jong-un has vowed to launch a tough anti-American strategy in the coming years.
At a five-day Workers' Party conference last week, Kim said North Korea would launch the “severest anti-American counterattack” in the coming years “in the interest of long-term national interests and security.”
Kim described the United States as “the most reactionary nation whose unchanging national policy is anti-communism,” and warned that the alliance between the United States, South Korea, and Japan has “expanded into a nuclear military zone for aggression.”
North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, “This reality clearly shows us which direction we should go, what we should do and how we should do it.”
The remarks came as President Trump prepares to take office next month.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim met three times during his first term to discuss North Korea's nuclear program, and there are voices pointing to the possibility of a resumption of diplomacy between the two countries with Mr. Trump's return. is also rising.
The two also have a personal relationship, with the Associated Press noting that Trump once said he was “in love” with Kim, but talks broke down in 2019.
Since then, Kim has stepped up his rhetoric about the threat the United States poses to North Korea, which has stepped up its weapons tests in recent years. In response, the United States is strengthening its relationship with South Korea.
