North Korea said it will never back down from its status as a nuclear state, as Chinese President Xi Jinping prepares to visit Pyongyang on Monday.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Pyongyang would not tolerate threats and would continue strengthening its self-defensive nuclear deterrent, state media agency KCNA said Thursday.
Xi’s visit would be his first trip to North Korea in nearly seven years. Beijing is seeking to reinforce ties with Pyongyang, its only formal treaty ally, ahead of a summit with Kim Jong Un.
Kim Yo Jong rejected US claims that Xi and US President Donald Trump had confirmed a shared goal of denuclearisation during a May summit. She called the claims “false,” according to KCNA.
She said North Korea’s policy of strengthening its nuclear war deterrence was an “irreversible and final conclusion” that must be carried out unconditionally.
The statement followed North Korea’s unveiling of a new nuclear material production facility earlier this week. Kim Jong Un used the visit to call for an “exponential” expansion of the country’s atomic arsenal.
Read: North Korea Nuclear Plant Shown As Kim Orders Arms Growth
Analysts said the uranium-enrichment site appeared aimed at strengthening North Korea’s negotiating position before the Xi-Kim summit.
Yonhap News Agency also reported Sunday, citing North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper, that Kim Jong Un visited a major munitions factory and ordered missile production capacity to rise 2.5 times over the next five years.
