North Korea’s supreme leader has claimed that his nuclear-armed nation could “completely destroy” South Korea if it were threatened in a chilling new broadcast. In a rare broadcast of the Workers’ Party Central Committee’s congress on Monday (February 23), Kim Jong-un also reiterated that he will not engage with his counterparts in Seoul, but left the door open to dialogue with the US.

His comments came as he concluded the ruling party congress, broadcast by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), during which Kim set out his policy goals for the next five years. The official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim also called for developing new weapons systems to bolster his nuclear-armed military, including intercontinental ballistic missiles – capable of reaching the US mainland – that could be launched from underwater and an expanded arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons, such as artillery and short-range missiles, targeting South Korea.

In response, South Korea’s Unification Ministry, aimed at promoting Korean reunification, said it was regrettable that the North continues to define inter-Korean relations as hostile and that Seoul will “patiently” pursue efforts to stabilise peace.

The Workers’ Party congress, which began last Thursday in Pyongyang, is the country’s most important political event. The events were previously held in 2016 and 2021. Also on Monday, the ruling party again chose Kim to be its general secretary. with KCNA claiming that North Korea has “radically improved” its “war deterrence”, under Kim’s leadership, “with the nuclear forces as its pivot”.

Kim, who took control of the regime after his father’s death in 2011, has invested heavily in the nuclear weapons programme, turning Pyongyang into a major challenge for the West, and especially the US.

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On Wednesday (February 25), KCNA said the North staged a military parade in the capital, which Kim watched with his increasingly prominent daughter, believed to be around 13 years old and named Kim Ju-ae Ae. This comes after previous reports that the dictator had handed her a senior leadership role in the country’s Missile Administration, the body that oversees Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.

He said in a speech that his forces were capable of “immediately and thoroughly retaliating” against any hostile threat. However, the state outlet did not say whether he showcased his largest weapons.

In 2024, Kim discarded the North’s longstanding goal of a peaceful reunification between the war-divided nations and declared the South a permanent enemy. North Korea has also repeatedly rejected Washington and Seoul’s calls to resume diplomacy aimed at winding down its nuclear program, which derailed in 2019 following the collapse of Kim’s second summit with Donald Trump during his first term.

Kim said the prospects of US-North Korea relations “depends entirely on the US attitude,” adding: “Whether it’s peaceful coexistence or permanent confrontation, we are ready for either, and the choice is not ours to make”.