Kim Jong Un’s obsession with becoming a nuclear power is nothing new in the world of geopolitics. For decades now, the North Korean leader has been brazenly transparent about his nuclear pursuits. Last week too, he gave a peep into his stance on the country’s nuclear ambitions and how the lines drawn decades ago remain exactly how they have always been — unbudged. While suggesting he was open to talks with the US, Kim Jong Un reiterated that it was a possibility only if Washington dropped the “absurd obsession” with making his country give up its nuclear warfare.
“Personally, I have fond memories of the US President Trump… If the United States drops the absurd obsession with denuclearising us and accepts reality, and wants genuine peaceful coexistence, there is no reason for us not to sit down with the United States,” the state media quoted him as saying. The North Korean leader also made it ostensibly clear that sanctions were not going to work, adding that the sanctions have been a “learning experience” and how they made his country stronger and resilient in the face of opposition.
Notably, North Korea has been under UN sanctions and arms embargoes since 2006, the year when it conducted its first nuclear test. However, no amount of international pressure or isolation has affected its nuclear policy. While the sanctions have affected funding for military development, Pyongyang has relentlessly continued to chase its nuclear ambitions, all this while making advances in building weapons and powerful ballistic missiles.
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On September 18, during a visit to a facility in Pyongyang, while presiding over performance tests of multipurpose drones and unmanned surveillance vehicles, Kim stressed that the use of AI is a top priority in building his country’s drone capabilities. The state media further reported that he also called for “expanding and strengthening the serial production capacity of drones.”
The North Korean leader, once again vowed to never give up on his nuclear weapons no matter how hard-hitting the sanctions. The same position was made known at the United Nations General Assembly recently when the country’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong told the assembly that North Korea will never ever give up its nuclear programme. He further called the prospect of denuclearisation as “tantamount to demanding it to surrender sovereignty and right to existence.”
A statement that is in sync with Kim’s stance on the same issue even back in 2022, when North Korea declared itself to be nuclear armed. In 2022, Pyongyang passed a law declaring itself to be a nuclear weapons state. The state media reported at the time that Kim Jong-un called the decision “irreversible.” Thereby, even back then ruling out any possibility of talks on denuclearisation. The said law also validated the country’s right to use its nuclear arsenal preemptively to protect itself.
Sanctions, geopolitical pressure notwithstanding
Crippling sanctions notwithstanding, North Korea conducted six nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017. Not giving into any kind of geopolitical pressure, Pyongyang has continued to advance its military capabilities, breach the United Nations Security Council resolutions, threaten its neighbours, flex its nuclear muscle time and again. Kim Jong un carried out long range missile launches in 2019 even after two very public and equally publicised but incomplete summits with US President Donald Trump.
Kim’s recent visits to nuclear facilities are not sporadic incidences, but periodical occurrences wherein the state media gives a measured glimpse into its ever-growing military and defence facilities.
In September 2024, the state media released images of Kim Jong Un visiting a uranium enrichment facility while giving a rare glimpse inside the isolated nation’s closely guarded nuclear weapons programme. The images, of a bright but sterile warehouse with rows of cylindrical machines, received immediate attention worldwide deepening concerns in the West.
North Korea’s nuclear arsenal
Currently, North Korea military power includes nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, unmanned drones, cruise missiles, an ever-increasing stockpile of nuclear weapons, and spy satellite technology, according to the United States Defence Intelligence Agency.
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Last week, South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung said that Pyongyang is believed to produce enough nuclear material to build about 15 to 20 new warheads per year. Concerning estimates if true. When it comes to nuclear capability and stockpile of the nation, the estimates have widely varied, even though they all paint an alarming picture. As per a 2025 report by US Congress thinktank Congressional Research Service, North Korea has produced enough fissile material to build up to 90 nuclear warheads and may have already assembled approximately 50 of them.
Plausible when believed against the backdrop of Kim Jong Un, who has repeatedly claimed that nuclear weapons remain a powerful and much-needed deterrent against US-led aggression. This despite the fact President Trump and Kim have met on three occasions in an eventually unsuccessful attempt towards putting North Korea on the path to denuclearisation in exchange for sanctions relief. Kim’s boundary lines as his obsession have always been clear and categorical. It is up to the West and US-led allies to figure out at least sanctions won’t work to get around North Korea.
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