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

North Korea's Vice Defense Minister, Kim Kang-il, defended his nation's nuclear arsenal during a Chinese defense forum, asserting it as a form of self-defense. His remarks, reported by Pyongyang's state media Friday, came from a speech he delivered at the 13th Beijing Xiangshan Forum, hosted in China from Tuesday to Thursday. Kim lambasted the United States for its joint military exercises with allies, contending those drills, premised on the assumption of nuclear weapons usage, were conducted openly near the Korean Peninsula.

He firmly claimed that such drills supported North Korea's own nuclear program, stating the North would "incessantly expand and strengthen our self-defensive nuclear war deterrent." Kim emphasized that the country's nuclear status had reached a "point of no return." He also called upon "enemy states" to abandon what he termed their "unrealistic denuclearization delusion."

Kim met with his Chinese counterpart outside the forum to discuss enhancing strategic communication and bolstering military cooperation and development, as reported by the Korean Central News Agency.