Kim Jong-un Accuses The United States Of Triggering Tensions, Bringing The Korean Peninsula To The Risk Of Nuclear War

JAKARTA - North Korean leader Kim Jon-un accused the United States of escalating tensions and provocations, saying the Korean Peninsula had never faced the risk of a nuclear war like now, state media reported Friday.

In a speech at a military exhibition on Thursday in Pyongyang, Leader Kim said his previous negotiation experience with Washington only highlighted "aggressive and hostile" policies towards Pyongyang, KCNA said.

"It has never been before that the warring parties on the Korean peninsula face dangerous and acute confrontations so that they can escalate into the most destructive thermonuclear war," Leader Kim said.

"We have done as far as we can in negotiating with the United States, but what we believe of the outcome is not the will of a superpower to coexist, but its strong stance and aggressive and hostile policies towards us that can never be changed," he explained.

Leader Kim, in his speech, called for the development and upgrade of weaponry to become "very modern" and promised to continue to advance defense capabilities to strengthen the country's strategic position, KCNA said.

It is known, during the first term of US President-elect Donald Trump, he and Kim held three unprecedented meetings in Singapore, Hanoi and on the Korean border in 2018 and 2019.

However, their diplomacy failed to achieve any concrete results due to the difference between US calls for North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons, with Leader Kim's demands for sanctions relief.

Trump himself has long touted his relationship with Kim, saying last month the two countries "will experience nuclear war with millions of people killed", but he stopped it thanks to their relationship.

North Korean state media itself has not publicly mentioned Trump's re-election.

Leader Kim's latest speech comes amid international criticism of the increasingly close military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, with North Korea having sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.

Last week, Kim urged the country's military to increase its ability to fight, blaming the United States and its allies for stoking tensions into "the worst phase in history" and calling the Korean peninsula the "biggest hotspot in the world."