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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Thursday that his country could “completely destroy” South Korea if it feels threatened, escalating rhetoric and ruling out resuming talks.
Speaking at the week-long Ninth Congress of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, Kim called South Korea the “most hostile enemy” and said that “the conciliatory attitude that the current South Korean government advocates on the surface is clumsily misleading and crude,” according to state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Kim said North Korea “may initiate arbitrary actions” if South Korea engages in “unpleasant behavior” directed at his country, dismissing Seoul’s recent efforts to improve relations.
“The total collapse of South Korea cannot be ruled out,” Kim said, according to KCNA.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during the Ninth Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang on February 23, 2026. (Korean Central News Agency via REUTERS)
During the congress, Kim outlined broad five-year policy goals focused on expanding North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. The country is believed to possess about 50 warheads and enough fissile material to produce up to 40 more, according to an estimate last year by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The North Korean leader said the country’s “international status has increased extraordinarily.”
“It is the firm will of our party to further expand and strengthen our national nuclear energy and fully exercise its nuclear statehood,” Kim said, according to KCNA. “We will focus on projects to increase the number of nuclear weapons and expand nuclear operational means.”
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was re-elected as general secretary during the Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang, North Korea, on February 22, 2026. (Korean Central News Agency via REUTERS)
Kim laid out plans for North Korea to develop more advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of underwater launches, along with artificial intelligence-powered weapons systems and unmanned drones, KCNA reported.
Kim, who met with President Donald Trump three times during Trump’s first term, signaled he could be open to future negotiations with Washington but placed the blame squarely on the United States.
“Whether it is peaceful coexistence or permanent confrontation, we are prepared for both and the choice is not ours,” he said.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae attended an event to celebrate the New Year in Pyongyang, North Korea. (KCNA via Reuters)
Kim said that if the United States “withdraws its policy of confrontation” with North Korea and recognizes the country’s “current state,” “there will be no reason why we cannot get along with the United States.”
After the congress, Kim’s teenage daughter attended a military parade in Pyongyang on Wednesday, according to KCNA. Ju Ae, believed to be 13 or 14 years old, was photographed alongside her father and senior military leaders.
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His appearance comes after South Korean media reported that Kim had recently given him a leadership role in the regime’s powerful “Missile Administration,” which oversees Pyongyang’s nuclear forces.
Emma Bussey of Fox News Digital, along with Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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