Kim of North Korea demands a quick nuclear buildup.

According to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the country must quickly increase its nuclear arsenal. He also described the U.S.-South Korea military drills as a “obvious expression of their will to provoke war,” according to a report published by state media KCNA on Tuesday.

This week marked the beginning of joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, which included testing an enhanced reaction to increased nuclear threats from North Korea. Seoul and Washington claim the exercises are strictly defensive, but Pyongyang frequently denounces them as invasion preparations and occasionally retaliates with weapon tests.

The military of South Korea previously stated that the 11-day yearly exercises, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, will be comparable in scope to 2024 but will be modified by moving 20 of 40 field training events to September. Although observers are skeptical of Pyongyang’s answer, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has stated that he wishes to reduce tensions with North Korea, which has resulted in such delays. When Kim visited a military destroyer on Monday, KCNA translated his comments into English and stated the maneuvers were a “clear expression of… their intention to remain most hostile and confrontational” to North Korea.

He pointed out that recent U.S.-South Korea exercises included a “nuclear element” and claimed that the security climate demanded that the North “rapidly expand” its nuclear arsenal.

U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung are scheduled to meet in Washington soon to discuss efforts by the United States and its allies to combat North Korea’s nuclear weapons development.

“Through this move, North Korea is demonstrating its refusal to accept denuclearisation and the will to irreversibly upgrade nuclear weapons,” said Hong Min, North Korea analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

North Korea may have generated enough fissile material to construct up to 90 nuclear weapons, but it most likely manufactured closer to 50, according to a Federation of American Scientists research last year.
In addition to testing cruise and anti-air missiles for those warships, North Korea intends to construct a third 5,000-ton Choe Hyon-class destroyer by October of next year.