Over the past several weeks, experts have speculated on what North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ‘s promised “Christmas gift” would be for America, but on Tuesday, the communist leader announced that his country will soon unveil a “strategic” new military weapon that will essentially put the entire world on alert.
According to Reuters , news of the reported new weapon came as Kim Jong Un wrapped up what was reported as a “rare,” four-day Workers’ Party’s policy-making committee meeting, which was reportedly convened as the United States failed to meet a deadline to negotiate various concessions on denuclearization talks — talks which would have possibly led down the path to lifting of sanctions on the cash-strapped, rogue Asian nation.
Kim Jong Un remained committed to bolstering his country’s nuclear deterrence against the West and even indicated that the “scope and depth” of the lengths that the country would go in building their level of deterrence is in direct relation of the United States’ attitude.
“The world will witness a new strategic weapon to be possessed by the DPRK in the near future,” Kim Jong Un said on Tuesday.
“We will reliably put on constant alert the powerful nuclear deterrent capable of containing the nuclear threats from the U.S. and guaranteeing our long-term security,” he added.
As The Hill reported, state-run media outlet KCNA said that the North Korean leader doesn’t believe that the United States is willing to come to terms with the denuclearization talks, adding that the continued “hostile” policies by the U.S. could bring consequences.
“If the U.S. persists in its hostile policy towards the DPRK, there will never be the denuclearization on the Korean peninsula and the DPRK will steadily develop necessary and prerequisite strategic weapons for the security of the state until the U.S. rolls back its hostile policy,” KCNA cited Kim Jong Un as saying.
Though military experts expected Kim Jong Un’s “ Christmas gift ” to be in the form of a long-range, intercontinental ballistic missile test — which hasn’t taken place in North Korea since 2017 — Washington officials warned that such a test could further damage relations between the two countries.
Sen. Lindsey Graham recently said that an ICBM test in North Korea “will put us on a collision course,” saying that the United States will not let North Korea get to the point where they have the type of long-range capability to strike the United States.
Trump has had two official in-person meetings with Kim Jong Un since winning the White House, though the last one, which was held in Hanoi, Vietnam, ultimately led to a break-down in negotiations.