Overview

• Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son-gyong used a rare General Assembly address to declare the nuclear force non-negotiable under any circumstances.
• His speech was the first by a senior North Korean official at the U.N. gathering since 2018, and it blamed U.S.-led drills for heightening tensions.
• State media days earlier said Kim Jong Un was briefed on expanding nuclear production capacity and lauded the country’s “ever-growing” nuclear technology forces.
• South Korea’s unification minister said North Korea can strike the U.S. mainland, citing its intercontinental ballistic missile developments.
• Independent estimates put the arsenal at roughly 50 warheads, with capacity to produce material for about 15 to 20 additional warheads each year.