This picture taken on July 18, 2020 and released from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday shows DPRK leader Kim Jong-un attending a Military Commission meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
PYONGYANG / SEOUL - Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) top leader Kim Jong-un stressed the importance of nuclear deterrence on the occasion of the 67th anniversary of the armistice of the 1950-53 Korean War, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Tuesday.
At the 6th National Conference of War Veterans held Monday, Kim said thanks to the "reliable and effective self-defense war deterrence, there will no longer be war on this land and our national security and future will be firmly guaranteed permanently," the KCNA reported
At the 6th National Conference of War Veterans held here Monday, Kim said thanks to the "reliable and effective self-defense war deterrence, there will no longer be war on this land and our national security and future will be firmly guaranteed permanently," the KCNA reported.
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"Bearing in mind that we should have a strong power to safeguard the fate of our country and people, we will never stop honing the most powerful national defense capacity that cannot be matched by anyone else," Kim was quoted by the KCNA as saying.
During the conference, Kim also paid tribute to the martyrs and war veterans who "dedicated their valuable lives to the sacred war for the country's reunification and independence and people's freedom and happiness," said the KCNA.
The DPRK held its 1st National Conference of War Veterans in 1993, marking the 40th anniversary of the end of the war. The following four conferences in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018 were all held after Kim took office at the end of 2011.
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The speech came amid stalled talks aimed at dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs in exchange for sanctions relief from Washington.
Kim and US President Donald Trump met for the first time in 2018 in Singapore, raising hopes for a negotiated deal on denuclearization in the Korean Peninsula. But their second summit, in 2019 in Vietnam, and subsequent working-level meetings fell apart.
