The US has for decades led efforts to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear programme, but summits, sanctions and diplomatic pressure have had little impact.
In recent months, the Trump administration has mounted a push to revive high-level talks with Pyongyang, eyeing a potential summit between the US president and the North’s Kim Jong Un this year.
Trump said during his Asia trip in October that he was “100 per cent” open to meeting with Kim, a remark that went unanswered by the North.
After largely ignoring those overtures for months, Kim recently said that the two nations could “get along” if Washington accepted Pyongyang’s nuclear status.
“TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES”
Pyongyang’s state media also said on Wednesday that North Korea’s leader oversaw another test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from the naval Choe Hyon destroyer.
North Korea carried out a similar missile test from the vessel last week, claiming the country was in the process of “arming the Navy with nuclear weapons”.
During the occasion, Kim stressed the importance of expanding a “powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent”, KCNA said.
Images released by state media showed Kim overseeing the launch remotely via video footage with his teenage daughter, Ju Ae, who is now widely regarded as his heir apparent.
There, Kim said “important successes” have been made in the practical deployment of “strategic and tactical strike means”.