North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to expand and strengthen his country's nuclear weapons programme, while calling on the US to accept that the nuclear weapons were here to stay in North Korea.
He has said that the US-North Korea relations "depend entirely on the US attitude". "If Washington respects our present (nuclear) position as stipulated by the constitution...and withdraws its hostile policy...there is no reason why we cannot get along with the United States," Kim said, as per the state media outlet KCNA, the BBC has reported.
He was speaking at the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, held in the capital, Pyongyang. He was presiding over a nighttime military parade and was accompanied by his daughter, widely believed to be named Ju Ae.
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Putting the onus of better relations between the US and North Korea on Washington, Kim has asserted, "whether it's peaceful coexistence or permanent confrontation, we are ready for either, and the choice is not ours to make."
Kim has left the door open for US negotiations, ahead of US President Donald Trump's visit to China in April this year.
'Seoul most hostile'
During the Congress, Kim also spoke about the relationship with South Korea. He called the neighbouring nation its "most hostile entity" and said that he would "permanently exclude Seoul from the category of compatriots."
"As long as South Korea cannot escape the geopolitical conditions of having a border with us, the only way to live safely is to give up everything related to us and leave us alone," he said.
The BBC reported that Kim, in his closing remarks, reaffirmed his stance on expanding the nation's nuclear capabilities, terming it as "firm will" of increasing both the number of weapons and the means to deploy them.
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"We will focus on projects to increase the number of nuclear weapons and expand nuclear operational means," the BBC quoted Kim as saying.
As per reports, about 14,000 troops marched in the parade. However, there was no usual procession of tanks, no intercontinental missiles, no hypersonic glide vehicles, and no transporter-erector-launchers.
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