North Korea said Wednesday it is considering restarting its “temporarily-suspended” military activities in response to “hostile” activity from the United States.
The announcement, which was reported by the country’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, appears to reference a pause on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile testing that the nation imposed in 2018.
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“Assessing that the hostile policy and military threat by the U.S. have reached a danger line that can not be overlooked anymore despite our sincere efforts for maintaining the general tide for relaxation of tension in the Korean peninsula since the DPRK-U.S. summit in Singapore, the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee unanimously recognized that we should make more thorough preparation for a long-term confrontation with the U.S. imperialism,” the state-run agency reported.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un led the Politburo meeting on Wednesday. The outlet said party members were reacting to the “foolish act” of the U.S. implementing over 20 independent sanction provisions. The state-run news agency also accused the U.S. of having a hostile policy of trying to suppress North Korea’s right to self-defense.
Kim previously agreed to pause nuclear and ICBM tests in 2018, prior to a meeting with then-President Donald Trump. Negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea broke down in 2019, and by 2020, Kim said the country was no longer bound by its commitment to pause the testing. So far, the country has not returned to nuclear or ICBM testing since 2018.
The U.S. imposed multiple sanctions in January aimed at several North Koreans in Russia and China and a Russian company, accused of helping North Korea improve its ballistic missile systems. The sanctions were in response to multiple missile tests North Korea launched in January. North Korea claims it launched hypersonic missiles, which travel faster than ballistic missiles, making them difficult to defend against.
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The U.S. has not confirmed if it believes North Korea’s recent missile tests were hypersonic. U.S. officials referred to some of the tests as “ballistic missile” tests. The U.S. has argued that North Korea’s recent missile tests were “unlawful and destabilizing” and has repeatedly called on the country to cease its testing.
News of North Korea considering restarting nuclear testing comes as the Biden administration faces another major foreign policy challenge in Ukraine. The White House attempted to clarify remarks on Thursday that President Joe Biden made drawing a distinction between a “minor incursion” into Ukraine and an invasion from Russia. Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday that Russia would face “a severe cost” if it took aggressive action against Ukraine.
